Costco wine kit - waste of money or not??

[Hfxhomebrewer]

Hi, I have never made wine but have made several beer kits, and the idea of making my own wine appeals to me. I do have certain constraints I have to work around, and for me kits are the best option at this point. Maybe not forever, but definitely for now.

My question is, has anyone made the wine kits from Costco? Are they good? Bad? Can they be improved by adding things, or changing certain components of the kit such as yeast? I did read somewhere the kits are 'ok', and let's be real, I am not expecting supreme quality wine but I would hope to make something at least as good as what I can buy at the store. I would normally spend $12-15 for an everyday wine so I would hope to make something of similar quality if I make a kit. Can the Costco kits achieve this? I should also mention I am willing to age the wine for 9 months or so before drinking it, I am not looking for something I can drink right away.

I feel like wine is all about the ingredients but beer is all about the process. Am I setting myself up to miss my goal if I don't get one of the high end kits?

The.Costco kits are on sale right.now where I live for $50 and make 60 bottles of wine. Kind of hard to ignore but I defer to your experience.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!
HFX

 

[SouthernYankee]

As for the Costco wine I cant comment since I didnt even know Costco sold wine kits
Dont know if you have Amazon Prime or not but there are always great deals on wine kits on there. I just made a Zinfandel Blush Kit purchased from there and it turned out great.

60 bottles are you sure about that? My 5 gal batch I just bottles I was able to only get 24 750ml bottles from it....60 bottles seems kinda high, well maybe if you put your wine in beer bottles...

 

[Hfxhomebrewer]

Yep, the kit comes with 2 bags of grape juice concentrate, one for white wine and one for red, and each makes 30 750ml bottles. I am in Canada, the costco sells two brands of wine kit, this was on sale for $50 but I have seen the other kit on sale for $40 before, and I know someone who made that kit (also 60 bottles) and it came out ok, but for my tastes I didn't enjoy it enough to make and drink 30 bottles of it. I am primarily interested in reds but these specific kits make white and red, and they come with everything - corks, shrink wraps, labels, clearing and stabilizing agents.

I don't think amazon sells wine kits here, but if they did I imagine the postage would be astronomical. But I shouldn't assume, I will go check now!

Thanks
HFX

 

[Hfxhomebrewer]

Ok so I was wrong on both counts. Amazon.ca does sell wine kits and they remarkably ship for free! However, the kits are far more expensive than the Costco kits, and most I clicked on weren't in stock or were in limited supply so they quote 1-4 weeks shipping time.

But they are essentially the same style of kit as those at Costco - concentrated juice with all the corks and labels and jazz.

 

[SouthernYankee]

Never seen a kit that sold both Red and White...must be a Costco CA thing

I do see what your talking about....
http://www.costco.ca/Vino-Europa-Co...raminer-White-Wine-Kit.product.100080461.html

Only way to find out is give it a try!
I think most people have there mind on a certain type of wine kit when it comes down to making a certain wine.
Most people buy the Winexpert, RJ Spagnols, Vino Italiano etc.......kits which only makes one wine type and these kits are proven to be a good value which produce great wines.

 

[kh54s10]

Costco kits for 12 gallons of wine and only $50??? I would not expect too much from this.....

The link in the last post shows $119. I don't know the difference US to CA but that is about what gets 6 gallon kits or 30 bottles here in northeast US.

 

[Hfxhomebrewer]

That link takes you to a kit which comes with a fermenter, secondary, and other hardware for brewing as well as the kit itself. Other kits on that page are $60-70 including shipping and those are the kits in store for $50-60 regular price, but I have seen on sale for $40-50.

My original question was essentially, can a lower quality kit be augmented to improve the end product, nobody has chipped in with that yet. So forget the costco part -can a low end kit be improved by changing the yeast, adding oak cubes, or other ingredients to help, or other things which can improve the wine? Even if I end up spending money on better yeast or other ingredients to make a noticeable difference, this would still likely come in around $2 per bottle. The best I can do at the LHBS is a low end kit for $60 which makes 30 bottles - the same per bottle price but that really tastes like $2 wine (I've had some made by someone else).

If I buy this kit and throw $50 of ingredients at it to improve the end result it's still a decent price for hopefully a decent wine, I was wondering if anyone with great wine making experience had done such an experiment using their knowledge to make it work??

HFX

 

[SouthernYankee]

WinemakingTalk.com: someone there might be able to answer your original question.
Youtube.com...I've watched several videos of people who buy the kits and then CHANGE a few things when they make it (adding oak, letting it sit longer etc).

To be honest you need to forget about the quantity (IE: number of bottles) and focus on the quality. If that means changing the kit to better suit your need so be it...but the number of bottles is irrelevant..

 

[Hfxhomebrewer]

Thanks I will try the other site and see what I can find out, I appreciate the referral.

I am not fixated on the number of bottles, what I'm getting at is, if the kit can be brewed into a decent wine with a few changes, why not? I am the farthest thing from a label snob, I buy wines I like the taste of, so the fact this is from costco doesn't bother me.

Cheers!

 

[AlbertaGuy]

The kits are great for the money. We bought 4 different kits last year to try out and found the 60 bottle white and reds were great as an everyday wine. I did add extra grape juice to the reds (about a gallon/ kit) which added some body, the whites were tasty as is but I'm sure a pound of raisons in the fermenter wouldn't hurt anything. The reds are very close to a $15 bottle of wine after aging a year, even had a friend from France comment how good the one was last week. We did not like the fruit wines (apple Riesling/ raspberry merlot) as they don't taste like wine, more like over sweetened fruit juice. Works out to $1/ bottle including shipping as they include corks and labels. We are waiting for the sale and will definitely order again this year.

 

[christpuncher123]

Yep, the kit comes with 2 bags of grape juice concentrate, one for white wine and one for red, and each makes 30 750ml bottles. I am in Canada, the costco sells two brands of wine kit, this was on sale for $50 but I have seen the other kit on sale for $40 before, and I know someone who made that kit (also 60 bottles) and it came out ok, but for my tastes I didn't enjoy it enough to make and drink 30 bottles of it. I am primarily interested in reds but these specific kits make white and red, and they come with everything - corks, shrink wraps, labels, clearing and stabilizing agents.

I don't think amazon sells wine kits here, but if they did I imagine the postage would be astronomical. But I shouldn't assume, I will go check now!

Thanks
HFX

I think you may be mistaken, the kits com in two red or two white, unless they are different at your Costco. I buy a kit of white and my friend buys a red and we swap so that we each have a white and a red! I am not a wine conasur by any means, but they taste pretty good to me! For less than $1 a bottle, I would consider it excellent compared to some of the stuff at the Liquor store for $12 - $20!

 

[Hfxhomebrewer]

I'll take a look next time I am in, I thought the kits I saw had red and white in the box, but if they sell kits with 2 reds in that's even better as I drink more red than white anyway!

 

[CanadianBacon]

Some wholesales in canada will sell fresh california grape juice in giant plastic barrels for like 60$, You will have to ask a manager tho. My dad orders then all the time. You just leave em in the barrel it comes in alone for several months and then bottle. No need to add anything. Ends up like 14%.

 

[stever1000]

When does costco have these wine sales?

 

[vznsft]

Make certain you follow the directions explicitly. Don't deviate. Keep all equipment clean and sterile. I had a problem with one kit and Argentina Ridge replaced it for free, including shipping. I prefer this wine to any I've bought in wine stores, restaurants and on ships.

 

[sheephrdr]

I have made the merlot kit, first batch was great.. second I was using a carboy as primary and don't have any ltr marks like my bucket so I guessed on the water addition.. took a gravity reading.. was way high thought o well maybe will be better..
took forever to ferment and never reached the sub 1.000 the first one did, bottled and was much sweeter that the first batch, not a fan of sweet in red, unless its a desert wine..

still ok but not proud to share with friends like the first batch

 

[Mashaca]

My original question was essentially, can a lower quality kit be augmented to improve the end product, nobody has chipped in with that yet. So forget the costco part -can a low end kit be improved by changing the yeast, adding oak cubes, or other ingredients to help, or other things which can improve the wine? Even if I end up spending money on better yeast or other ingredients to make a noticeable difference, this would still likely come in around $2 per bottle. The best I can do at the LHBS is a low end kit for $60 which makes 30 bottles - the same per bottle price but that really tastes like $2 wine (I've had some made by someone else).

If I buy this kit and throw $50 of ingredients at it to improve the end result it's still a decent price for hopefully a decent wine, I was wondering if anyone with great wine making experience had done such an experiment using their knowledge to make it work??

HFX[/QUOTE]

Hi there, did you end up experimenting? I just started making wine and have only been using Costco kits. I've done 6 kits so far, drinking my second and the next 4 are at different stages of aging (not in bottles). The only tweak I make is that I reduce the must to 19 liters (not 23 as suggested). The wines I make are full bodied and get many compliments.

I do prefer my wines with a strong taste of oak and I was wondering if you tried it; if so, what was the outcome?

Cheers!

 

[Marauder69]

Hi, I have never made wine but have made several beer kits, and the idea of making my own wine appeals to me. I do have certain constraints I have to work around, and for me kits are the best option at this point. Maybe not forever, but definitely for now.

My question is, has anyone made the wine kits from Costco? Are they good? Bad? Can they be improved by adding things, or changing certain components of the kit such as yeast? I did read somewhere the kits are 'ok', and let's be real, I am not expecting supreme quality wine but I would hope to make something at least as good as what I can buy at the store. I would normally spend $12-15 for an everyday wine so I would hope to make something of similar quality if I make a kit. Can the Costco kits achieve this? I should also mention I am willing to age the wine for 9 months or so before drinking it, I am not looking for something I can drink right away.

I feel like wine is all about the ingredients but beer is all about the process. Am I setting myself up to miss my goal if I don't get one of the high end kits?

The.Costco kits are on sale right.now where I live for $50 and make 60 bottles of wine. Kind of hard to ignore but I defer to your experience.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!
HFX

We’ve made very many Costco (Argentina Ridge) wine kits, mostly Chardonnay.
It’s for my wife and company, everyone likes it.
In Canada the prices in 2022 the prices have gone up, like everything else and now a double kit (60 bottles) is $119.
But it produces a very good wine v

 

[Dr_Jeff]

With all of them you can add in a bag of table sugar and up the ABV if desired.

 

[Broken Crow]

 

[Beekeeper]

View attachment 774103

Now the question: did those wines improve over the past five years?

 

[Marauder69]

Now the question: did those wines improve over the past five years?

They never last that long.

 

[Coffee49]

I would assume the cosco kits generate a red and white table wine level wine, the red may turn out better if 12 grams of oak is added at secondary racking, the old saying a 150 dollar red kit will take medals in a tasting contest, a 50 dollar kit not so much

 

[lukebuz]

In what country is that an old saying??

 

[Coffee49]

My wine tasting room