Winemaking Outside of Harvest

Lots of home winemakers concentrate their efforts in tune with the natural seasons. They make all of their wine in the harvest months of August, September, and October using seasonally available just-picked wine grapes. (Full disclosure: That is my most frequent pattern, too. I live in Sonoma County, California, and have a hobby vineyard in my backyard.) But sometimes a home winemaker wants to do something else. Maybe you didn’t make enough wine in harvest season. Or maybe you just want an adult beverage that doesn’t line up with the local seasons. Whatever the motivation, there are several techniques for out-of-season wine. Wine Ingredient Kits Kits are very popular among readers of this magazine. Indeed, many of the annual winners in the WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition are wines made from ingredient kits. Particularly useful if you do not have easy access to components like yeast, sulfites, and fining agents, ingredient kits come with everything you need. Kits use sterile grape juice, grape juice concentrate, or some combination of those. If you purchase a 100% juice kit, you will be