Why buy a kit?

Is there something I'm missing here? I just bought my wife a kit that makes 3 gallons and it was $80.00. It was just juice, yeast and some additives. Why don't you just buy the yeast and additives, and add a couple gallons of Jucey Juice?

The juice, yeast and additives are meant to produce a certain style of wine. The bulk of the $80 is probably in the juice. Certain grapes make really good wine, they are called European grapes, or more formally, vitis vinifera. Typically juices in the US are made from American grapes - vitis labrusca. You can make wine from an off-the-shelf juice (I made my first wine from welch's grape juice), but no matter how good you are at it, it will probably be a pretty lousy wine. American grapes have what is called a "foxy" aroma that is very unpleasant if it isn't well controlled.

Jake, you are right on about the types of grapes, other than the vinifera deal. Just because a grape is grown in the US doesn't make it a labrusca variety. Cabernet is a vinifera variety no matter where it is grown.

Because you're trying to mkae wine, not prison hooch.

There are two extremes. Those who make wine from anything. And those who make wine out of "Quality Ingredients" (define as necessary).
I will be perfectly happy to make Country Wines. Those you make with various types of fruit and juices. But I also plan on making wine from kits that will most certainly be a good quality becuase I will start with a quality kit.

Personally I would suggest people ease into the hobby instead of jumping in wallet first. It will give them room to make mistakes, and grow. It will allow them to figure out what they like/dislike and allow them to play! It's up to the Brewer/Vinter

WIP said:

Jake, you are right on about the types of grapes, other than the vinifera deal. Just because a grape is grown in the US doesn't make it a labrusca variety. Cabernet is a vinifera variety no matter where it is grown.

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Yeah, I was just referring to the origin - a way to distinguish them if you aren't into Latin names. Thanks for the clarification. Vinifera is grown everywhere possible, not just in Europe.

First off, $80 for a 3 gallon kits is in my opinion to much. Being said I have now made 4 kits after years of being a "from the grape" freak. Reason is simple, I cant store enough grapes to ferment year round and there is also the ability to obtain juice from places I could never get any other way. I do make fruit and berry wines also but I love big reds.

$80 for 15 bottles is about $5 a bottle. If the wine is good, and you can make it yourself, why not. I have seen kit wines go for well over that. If the general public could get their hands on good juice of grapes for lower prices (seems like you do), that would be better, but for now, everyone is buying juice out of Cali that is slave to all of the costs involved with buying a packaged good.

At the winery we end up paying about $3.75 a bottle for the grapes alone, but we are buying from the best farmer in TX.

There are some real good 6 gallon kits out there for $90 to $125 . That is simply far better deal. I agree kits make it easier to get juices. Living in Washington I am a little spoiled at ability to get fresh grapes. I do drive to Cali in Oct for some good grapes too. That trip the grapes get K-meta

mmadmikes1 said:

First off, $80 for a 3 gallon kits is in my opinion to much. Being said I have now made 4 kits after years of being a "from the grape" freak. Reason is simple, I cant store enough grapes to ferment year round and there is also the ability to obtain juice from places I could never get any other way. I do make fruit and berry wines also but I love big reds.

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It was from a local wine store. I could have bought the same kit online for 55.00 + shipping, but I'd rather support local business. It was also a "sparkling wine" kit that she had to special order in from a new vendor, so I'm sure she didn't get much of a price break on it.

BTW kit juice packs are more than just juice. They have been sterilized(no bad bugs to worry about) Acids have been adjusted, Brix levels set,correct amounts of tannins added for style of wine. You can do all of the above yourself, but experience is need to get it right. I have dumped wine out in front yard more than once

Wine kits are expensive compared to beer kits, but like WIP mentioned. Compare it to and equal quality store bought wine and how many bottles you get.

Buying local... You are a saint, Or a hippie.
Just kidding buddy.
55+ship vs 80... I would buy it from India if I could!

Somehow I suspect the kit is 3 gallons of concentrated juice, that will make 5 or probably 6 gallons of finished wine.

That's what I'd expect for an $80 kit.

His post said it made 3 gallons

Ice wines and port come in 3 gallon kits, but the vast majority are 6 gallons.

I didn't even consider it being an icewine in the original post. That makes more sense to me with the 3 gallon amount for that price.

I'd also factor in that the juice from the kits aren't just juice you'd find at a store, but often a specific set of grapes from different vineyards. Varieties you won't really see at a store, but maybe either at a vinyard or sometimes at a farmer's market. I'm sure there's a bit of a price due to the processing, but especially in the beginning I'd prefer a decent kit compared to getting the grapes, crushing and pressing. Especially since if I were to buy grapes on my own, it'd cost more than the kit. I'd have to go in with a group who buys grapes by the ton to get a price. Maybe I'll convince a friend to grow lots of grapes or something.

The farmer's market here often has varietal grapes from different farms in the fall. I'm not entirely sure why they do since I don't know if they'd work as table grapes since they're wine grapes, but they're around 5 dollars a pound and if I can assume I need at least 5 pounds of grapes per gallon, I'd be looking at $150 for enough grapes for 6 gallons plus the work involved (hence buying in bulk).

It really seems to be the same with other fruits as well, trying to find the different variety to acheive what you're aiming for, as well as correcting the acidity, ph, sweetness and so on.

Now if I found places selling pasturized (not preserved) 100% reisling grape juice, then yeah, I'd go for it. But then, you'd probably be looking at something priced like the kit anyways.

If you go to vineyards you can get a little better price and all the ones I go to will even knock off some more if I pick them. All the ones I go to crush and de-stem for me. In the end with gas and time it would cost less to buy kits. Then I do get to pick what grape doesn't go in the box.

If it's the millennium sparkling wine it is a 3 gallon kit and you pay a premium price for it. I have made it twice now and it is very good. I don't I could make sparkling wine of that quality with grapes on my first try.

malkore said:

Somehow I suspect the kit is 3 gallons of concentrated juice, that will make 5 or probably 6 gallons of finished wine.

That's what I'd expect for an $80 kit.

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Final yield is 3 gallons. Prob only 1-2 gallons of concentrated juice. It's a sparkling wine, 3 gallon kit. I can find the same kit for 50.00 online + shipping. But it still comes out to $5 a bottle (750ml) instead of $15 in the store. 1/3 the price, a savings of 10.00 a bottle means for every bottle she drinks that's 10.00 closer to an all-grain setup for me!