Complete beginner

[Leemi1982]

Hi I’m new to wine making my first attempt was a success a possible fluke I just used supermarket grape juice and it came out great.. my next attempt not so good I purchased a youngs Chardonnay 6 bottle which ended up tasting fairly low grade…

As a newbie I was wondering if I should expect low grade tasting wine from all kits.. and need to be using real fruits ( my future plan) but for now I am hoping to stick with kits for a while as long as there not poor quiLity.. what are other kit brands like.? what should I be using….?

also I don’t really want to be making big batches of wine, small kits are best for me.

I have received a Malbec winexpert kit for Xmas hoping that will be better.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

Others have more experience with kits than I do. If you do move into fruit, one thing to keep in mind is a lot of the recipes go light on the amount of fruit needed. @Scooter68, @Rice_Guy, @hounddawg and others are expert fruit wine makers and can give great advice. Also, @joeswine has a couple of threads about tweaking kits to make even cheap kits full bodied and delicious.

Check out the beginners, kits, and country wine threads for more info. Have fun!

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!!

Good quality kits can produce a very nice wine. Check the Kit Winemaking forum -- you'll get an idea of good brands to buy and as @Jovimaple said, there are lots of tips.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to WineMakingTalk

my suggestion is ferment what you like the taste of. ,,, kits are OK for the grape market (reliable, everything needed, etc) ,,,, I really got into wine making since I garden,, and also created toys at work to copy what a food factory did. ,,, If you have a club near you it is easy to collect small quantities of fermentables which are ready to go. If you have a decent kitchen creating a variety of gallon size juices will come easily and there are numerous easy to forage fruits as mulberry or apple or cactus pears or dandelion.

 

[Leemi1982]

I said low grade but after the first bottle I’m starting to enjoy it.. miss’s not impressed tho

 

[Old Corker]

I’ve been doing this for about 4 years now. Pretty much stick to 6 gallon kits with grape juice concentrate as the base. Wine Expert, RJS and Finer Wine Kits are my staples. I’m pretty satisfied with the results although I think I’m still on the upswing in terms of my skill level. I feel like every new kit I make has the potential to be the best I’ve made.