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Here is an update to my post from June of 2022. In December I started two kits of On the House Merlot ($37.50 per kit including shipping). One I made exactly per the included instructions (batch 1), and the other (batch 2) I tweaked -- blackberry fpac, Chaptalized to just under 1.10 S.G...

Is there a reason to use wine conditioner versus sugar, or the other way around? I want to back sweeten my FWK Riesling. I know the WE Riesling kit uses juice, which is more like the way Riesling is made in Germany, but I couldn't figure out how to get an appropriate juice/concentrate, hence...

Perfect. That's what I'll do. Thanks much for your excellent advice.

I'll try a slurry. Thoughts on the easiest, least dusty way to do that?

Is the only purpose of the carbon to keep the white wine from darkening? I used it in their Riesling and didn't mind it, but if I can skip it and only affect the color, I think I might do that. Are there other beneficial effects also, or just color?

My first thought is swap out the kit yeast for something that will enhance your wine. The couple of yeasts I checked that were listed for Tempranillo in MoreWine's yeast pairing don't seem to be available in single-batch packets, but if you can find a specialty yeast that will enhance the fruit...

To revisit my comment about the FWK Riesling, I made it last year, didn't like it much, and put it aside (I don't usually age my Rieslings very long). So now it's been in the bottle a year and I tried it and I quite like it. In fact, I just purchased another kit (on sale) and I think I'm going...

RJS Cru International German-style Riesling is my recommendation for a dry Riesling. I myself prefer halb trocken, and I'm pretty happy with the WineXperts Washington Riesling, although I liked the old process better than the new "improved" version. I didn't care much for the FWK Riesling...

I thought it was hilarious. Well done, Label Peelers. Thanks for the April Fools' Day chuckle.

Today I reached my goal of making more than my legal 100 gallons of wine in a calendar year. Don't report me to the ATF; I live in a two-person household so I can legally make 200 gallons, which for me is really out of the question. But 100 gallons felt ambitious to me, and I'm pleased to have...

I can't say I have solved the "tasteless fruit wine" problem, but I have perhaps added a new tool to the toolbox. I made peach cheong (a pound of peaches, a pound of sugar, sealed in a container for 100 days, and the liquid you drain off is cheong) and used it to back sweeten my peach wine, and...

In the interest of accuracy and in case anyone wants to use this recipe, I checked my notes and found that I made this kit to five and a half gallons, not five as I originally posted. I should have remembered this because it caused me a problem. Knowing that my six-gallon carboy holds six...

I racked the Yakima red blend from Fontana (ABC Crafted) in preparation for bottling. I let the dregs settle and my husband and I just drank the clear portion. I'm amazed at how good this tastes. The kit is equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and I did the recommended...

I know the words "kit taste" are like a red flag to a bull for some people, but I'll take the risk here. I've been making kit wines, almost all reds, since 2015. Before I ever read about the K.T. concept or heard the term at all, I was aware of a flavor in my red wines, from all brands of...

I'm about to start a Pinot Noir kit that's about five years old. Should I make it per instructions (using new yeast and other chemicals, of course) or should I try to compensate for any possible loss of flavor by adding, for example, zante currants in primary, as I do for cheap red wine kits?

I have added glycerin to wine I made from grapes, but never to a kit wine. What does it give you?

Zinfandel Blush. Not the sort of thing I usually make -- I'm a beefy red type person -- but we really like it.

If you freeze the peaches and then thaw them, do you soak them in lemon juice before freezing to keep them from turning brown, like you do when you freeze peaches for cooking? Or is that not necessary because you aren't freezing them for very long?

Update: I added eight ounces, or one cup, of the wine conditioner. I let it sit for a couple of weeks and then removed some and chilled it for tasting. It's delicious! I bottled it yesterday and my husband and I drank the dregs and really enjoyed it. Not particularly sweet but complex and...

I want to do a comparison of a kit wine with all the regular chemicals vs a kit wine with only kmeta. Unfortunately, the kit I chose to do this with, VineCo Cabernet Shiraz, has the sulfite and sorbate in one package, as discussed above (apparently all Global Vintner brands do this now). I am...