Wine making from kits

Making wine from kits has variable popularity amongst the "downsizer.net" community, where on the whole we'd rather forage for berries than buy a commerical kit. But they do have a valuable role. Country wines generally take time to be ready, two years is far from unheard of!

Some wine kits promise to be ready in seven days! though 3-4 weeks is more realistic even with a "quick" kit.

Many people have expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of wine from kits. But this is largely because you get what you pay for. The grape is practically designed to make wine from. It has all the sugars, flavours, acid and nutrients to ferment into a wonderful result. Why then when you buy a cheap wine kit, does it say add sugar? The answer is quite obvious, economies have been made on the grape concentrate.

A good wine kit like those in the Beaverdale range, requires no added sugar, but it does mean the wine will cost you somewhat over £1 a bottle. But the results you will get over time should match a £5 bottle of bought wine.

So if you want to enjoy the fruits of home brewing quickly and to help avoid those impatient urges to try your Country wines too early, then give a kit a chance.