Making Wine from a Kit at a Winery

A good friend of my husband’s recently wrote me to tell me that a Classic Winemakers in Lacey, WA was having a good sale to make your own wine. There was a bit of confusion at first as to why I was uninterested in this.

See, a place like Classic Winemakers who offer to let you make wine there are using wine kits. Once you have selected what to make, they then make the wine for you using their equipment at their facilities. In my post about wine kits, I said that to buy the equipment to make a wine kit at home costs about $100, but in using their store, you wouldn’t have to buy that equipment. Plus, you don’t have to know how to make wine, as they will do all the labor for you. All you have to do is show back up, pick out a label, and they will give you a finished bottled wine custom made for you from a wine kit.

These type of wineries are not for me because I do have the equipment, and I do want the experience of making the wine myself. However, if someone wanted a custom wine but didn’t want to deal with all the details, this would be very ideal for them.

I know of at least two other wineries who operate like this. One is Bader Winery in Vancouver, WA, and the other is Cork This! in Texas.

Sources of Fruit for Wine

Of course, the ultimate fruit for wine would be fresh fruit that is crushed and/or pressed for the juice, and then fermented. No water added. But what to do in the middle of winter?

Well, there are a couple of inferior but cheaper and accessible sources. The first one is to use frozen fruit. This could be thawed out and pressed for juice, or it could be allowed to soak in water.

Another option is to use canned fruits. I recently bought some canned Bartlett pears, and I plan on using the syrup and pears both when I make them. However, canned fruit often contains some form of sugar, so read the labels to make sure you are comfortable with the variety in the product. While I do not particularly care for corn syrup, my husband is now buying a powdered form of corn sugar to use with his beer because it does better than cane sugar.

Probably the most easy source for making fruit wine is buying fruit juice. While more expensive, using juices that are 100% juice usually tastes a little better than concentrated juice. Also, 100% is usually pasteurized, so aside from sterilizing equipment, the juice itself does not need to have potassium metasulfite added. However, when on a budget, concentrated juice works well. My first batch of apple wine used concentrated apple juice.

Remember, if you are buying any processed fruit or fruit juice, check the labels to ensure that no preservatives have been added.

There are also a few choices from your local brew supply store, including canned fruit, pureed fruit, or even kits that have all the ingredients needed in a box. These can be spendy, but at the same time it will be higher quality and preservative free. This stuff is made for making wine.