Has anyone made Wine Lovers kits?

[Bohemiana]

Newbie to this forum!
I did a Google search for Fontana wine kits because at the moment there are not many Fontana selections on Amazon, and in the shopping section of Google, Wine Lovers came up with a bunch of kits around $50. I searched this forum but didn't find any info about this company. The reviews on the company's website are all positive, which is always a red flag IMO. Has anyone tried making Wine Lovers kits? Also, besides Amazon I couldn't find any other source for Fontana kits. Any other options for Fontana kit purchases? Thank you!

Here's the link...
https://wineloversonline.com/
FYI--In addition to newbie on this forum, I'm a relatively newbie to kit wine making. So far I've only made a couple of Winexpert World Vineyard kits and one Winexpert Limited Edition kit. The LE kit was really good but the WV kits were pretty average.

 

[my wine]

I went to the link and saw the $50 kits. But they were all 7% PABV. Too light for me. The $55 kits gives you 11.5% which I would tweak anyway to get a bit more alcohol. $55 with free shipping to the US is a decent deal. That's $10 to $15 less than Wild Grapes brand on Amazon with free shipping also. And Wine Lovers has a good selection of reds. I haven't tried this brand but I'm looking for a good base wine kit to tweak and this is worth a try. Thanks for posting it.

 

[my wine]

Today I ordered 2 kits from Wine Lovers. A $55 merlot and a $90 Pinot Noir. The Pinot comes with 16 liters of juice. That's more than 2/3 of the wine quantity produced by the kit. A lot of juice! Plus free shipping and no sales tax from Canada. Let's see how it turns out.

 

[Bohemiana]

I would like to know how you tweak the $55 merlot to give it more body/taste. I've never made any kit except by the directions that come with the kit. I've been reading about raisins, zest, peppercorns, bananas but still don't have the knowledge to risk it yet. I'm all about getting the most bang for the buck which is why the Wine Lover's $55 price point appealed to me. Please update this thread with your tweaks!

 

[my wine]

I recently started working kits outside of the instructions alone. Most of what I learned came from a thread in the General Wine Making Forum called When Good Wines Gone Bad. You may have looked through there. Lots of great information there. I racked a Winexpert Trinity Red kit to secondary yesterday. During primary I put the bentonite in then I adjusted the amount of water I added using the hydrometer as my guide. I picked a starting SG of 1.010 then added water to get that reading. I would up with 5.5 gallons of must instead of the 6 gallons called out in the kit instructions. Then I took a pound of blackberries and a cup of raisins, simmered them a couple of minutes and mashed up the berries then tossed that into the bucket. I added the oak chips included with the kit and pitched the yeast. Too early to tell how well it turned out but I calculated ABV at 13.25%. Plenty of flavor but I'll taste again in a couple of weeks when it had time to settle a bit. It does taste stronger and fruitier than the first Trinity Red kit I made using the instructions alone.

If you wait to get knowledge yourself you may wait a long time. On this forum many people share the knowledge they took a long time to get so I don't have to take so long. You should try it too. I haven't decided yet what I'll do with the $55 merlot kit. I'm thinking dried montmorency cherries. I'll have to see what others have gotten with cherries in the primary.

 

[my wine]

BTW, welcome to the forum!!

 

[bstnh1]

I recently started working kits outside of the instructions alone. Most of what I learned came from a thread in the General Wine Making Forum called When Good Wines Gone Bad. You may have looked through there. Lots of great information there. I racked a Winexpert Trinity Red kit to secondary yesterday. During primary I put the bentonite in then I adjusted the amount of water I added using the hydrometer as my guide. I picked a starting SG of 1.010 then added water to get that reading. I would up with 5.5 gallons of must instead of the 6 gallons called out in the kit instructions. Then I took a pound of blackberries and a cup of raisins, simmered them a couple of minutes and mashed up the berries then tossed that into the bucket. I added the oak chips included with the kit and pitched the yeast. Too early to tell how well it turned out but I calculated ABV at 13.25%. Plenty of flavor but I'll taste again in a couple of weeks when it had time to settle a bit. It does taste stronger and fruitier than the first Trinity Red kit I made using the instructions alone.

If you wait to get knowledge yourself you may wait a long time. On this forum many people share the knowledge they took a long time to get so I don't have to take so long. You should try it too. I haven't decided yet what I'll do with the $55 merlot kit. I'm thinking dried montmorency cherries. I'll have to see what others have gotten with cherries in the primary.

Starting SG of "1.010"???? That won't get you anywhere near 13% ABV. Do you mean 1.10????

 

[my wine]

Yep, 1.100, nice catch. 13.25% calculated ABV. Thanks!

 

[joeswine]

Always good reading" tweaking cheap wine kits" on this forum. #1 of its kind on facebook and Google.

 

[joeswine]

Have you read "tweaking cheap wine kits" on this same forum? It should answer most of your questions.

 

[Steve Wargo]

Newbie to this forum!
I did a Google search for Fontana wine kits because at the moment there are not many Fontana selections on Amazon, and in the shopping section of Google, Wine Lovers came up with a bunch of kits around $50. I searched this forum but didn't find any info about this company. The reviews on the company's website are all positive, which is always a red flag IMO. Has anyone tried making Wine Lovers kits? Also, besides Amazon I couldn't find any other source for Fontana kits. Any other options for Fontana kit purchases? Thank you!

Here's the link...
https://wineloversonline.com/
FYI--In addition to newbie on this forum, I'm a relatively newbie to kit wine making. So far I've only made a couple of Winexpert World Vineyard kits and one Winexpert Limited Edition kit. The LE kit was really good but the WV kits were pretty average.

I've used Wine Lovers as a source for juice Kits. I've also sourced from Label Peelers(Ohio) for the Wine Expert Kits. I think the "brand label kits" all get their condensed juice from the same processing plant somewhere in Canada. The only difference I've found is that the WIne Expert kits came with wood chips (when required) and the Wine Lovers kits did not come with wood chips, in my experience. I use the 8L (used to be 10L) kits and above and 16L.(when they go on sale). If you like to tinker and tweak the less expensive kits, that's a good thing too (develop vintner skills and tools). I think they(brands) are all about the same quality (for each liter category) except the price. IMO One other thought: You might be able to source a different grape juice style from one brand as opposed to the other.
Good luck and happy winemaking

 

[my wine]

I use the 8L (used to be 10L) kits and above and 16L.(when they go on sale).

Wine Lovers may have changed the juice volume in their kits, same as Wine Expert did. I bought a full-body Wine Lovers Pinot Noir kit (16 liter) and a medium-body merlot kit (5.2 liter printed on the box although the plastic bag with the juice says 6L bag). There is a light-body kit with 4.8 liter juice bag. They may have other kits with 8 liters; I don't know. As steve Wargo said, they don't come with much other than the chems to make the basic wine. That's fine with me as I like to tinker.

I haven't looked at Label Peelers yet. I'll go look there. Thanks!

 

[Ole Guy 35]

New to this forum: I have bought from Label Peelers good pricing and great customer service

 

[Kantuckid]

Thread revival: I was looking at Wine Lovers Amazon reviews yesterday and read one that the kit user was buying two kits then using one whole bag and 1/2 bag to make a typical size batch of wine and gain better flavor. My 1st thought was the cost was then almost where Wine Expert kits begin in price point. I was also considering the Wine lovers Pinot Noir kit and add a 1/2 bag of Wine Expert red juice concentrate to up the game a bit? Your thoughts?

 

[VinesnBines]

I've bought the cheap Fontana (now ABC Craft) cab sav kit and reduced the water addition to make a 5 gallon batches rather than 6 gallons. I add about a quart of simple syrup (SG 1.120), a cup of Zante currants and a cup of oak chips. I've tried a few other varieties from Fontana but none are quite as good or I haven't found the good combination for tweaking.

 

[Kantuckid]

Wood chips as I see mentioned above are indeed cheap- I own a sawmill and oak chips are all over the place-ha!
I do see the 14 varieties of the Fontana labeled kits on Amazon right now. They list for $60, $5 more than the Wine Lovers price @ $55 each.
If we take the info. to heart, that all the juice bags come from the "plant in Canada" then what are we paying extra for with the Wine Expert kits? Kind of kills the notion of premium kits? That said, I have had great results from Wild Grapes lower price point kits with a Canadian source for the kit itself, the juice was from AU on my Chardonnay, but could have been based in a warehouse wherever.

 

[VinesnBines]

The oak needs to be toasted white oak though they are cheap. The Fontana have a $5 coupon off one, at least for Amazon Prime. I didn't care a lot for the Fontana Chardonnay so maybe I should try the Wild Grapes.

 

[Old Corker]

I assume you're kidding about the wood chips. The wood used in these kits is specific species of oak that is aged and toasted at different grades. I may be naïve but assume there is a collection method other than sweeping the floor.
The Wine Expert and RJS kits are (allegedly) a mixture of the juice concentrate and varietal juice from the listed source. Higher price points have more of the juice blended into the concentrate. So you're not just paying for added water. You're paying for added juice along with the other additives. I have not done Fontana or Wild Grapes kits but have done a fair amount of tweaking to the cheaper WE and RJS kits.

 

[Kantuckid]

An oven will char wood. In fact even a microwave will char wood. I dry my wood moisture content samples in the microwave and have gone overboard before and charred my sample piece...
Could also easily be done with a propane torch. I also use oak scraps from green oak mill cuts for BBQ grill smoke.
I like my AU Chardonnay pretty well. I'd put up with a decent $10-15 store wine. Liquor Barn a big alcohol retailer nearest city to me sells the chips cheap.
My real point to begin with is any kit lacking wood chips is not a thing that matters too much.
I've read these oak chip thoughts before. The real barrels are made near me and the wood is not aged. Of course a whiskey barrel is charred inside to the point of charcoal on the surface. None of the chips I've seen as additives to kit are charred much. I don't sweep the floor except in my wood shop of course. White Oak is the only species used for a barrel, period. Other oaks in the white oak family lack the closed cell structure and don't qualify for barrels.
No doubt there are wine snobs? who feel the chips must come from some South of France type of locale. Charring wood probably kills the cooties anyway? I used to make sassafras chips on my jointer for my wife's Mamaw and I caught them on a piece of clean newsprint before they hit the floor.

 

[Old Corker]

My real point to begin with is any kit lacking wood chips is not a thing that matters too much.

Your wood working skills far surpass mine. I make cedar chips with my wood chipper but only use it for mulch.
I buy oak for my wine or use what came with the kit.