Topic: Kit-Winemaking
Medal-Winning Dessert Kit Tips
MEMBERS ONLYFollowing the directions that come with your wine kit will result in very good wine, but sometimes experimenting is part of the fun. Three award-winning winemakers share how they go about making adjustments to dessert wine kits — a category of wine that works well with fortification and other tweaks.
Top 100 Wine Kits of 2021
FREEThere were 499 kit wines judged in the 2021 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition. Many of these kit wines received medals and top honors. Here are the 100 wine kits that performed best.
Turning Kits to Gold
FREEWine kits come with all of the necessary ingredients to make a great tasting batch of wine. So how come all of these wines don’t come out tasting the same? The short answer is that the creativity often associated with fresh grape winemakers must also be applied to kit winemaking, and then solid technique and practices are key. We asked four highly decorated kit winemakers to share their best advice in this kit winemaking roundtable.
15 Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting Techniques for Kits
FREEAnswers to 15 of the most common questions winemakers ask about making wine from kits.
Macerating Skin Packs
FREEAh, kits are getting so clever these days! I would say it all depends on the quality of what you feel, taste, see, and smell for the material that comes in your
Adjusting Acidity in Wine Kits
FREEWine kits are so wonderful because they tend to be easier and more predictable than just starting from a fresh batch of grapes. Kits have instructions to follow and you’re right, most
Upping Your Kit Game: Making the most of your wine kit
FREERight out of the gate, winemakers are instructed to “follow the directions” when it comes to kit wines. But once you get comfortable with the process there are plenty of options to tweak. Bob Peak details some of those adjustment opportunities.
Finishing Wine from Kits
MEMBERS ONLYGet advice on how to “finish” your wine made from a kit — the steps near the end of the process and after the instructions that come with the kit come to an end that you can take to improve on them.
Intro to Wine Kits: Tips from the Pros
FREEWhether you are new to the winemaking hobby or looking to supplement your grape winemaking during the off-season, making wine from a kit results in great tasting wine in less time and
Top 100 Wine Kits of 2019
MEMBERS ONLYThis past April, experienced judges evaluated a total of 646 wine kit entries as part of the overall 2019 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition featuring 2,305 total entries. This large collection of kit entries was sent into the competition from across North America. The 646 wine kit entries were entered into over 30 different categories
Top 100 Wine Kits of 2018
MEMBERS ONLYNearly 700 wines made from kits were entered into more than 30 different categories and judged in the 2018 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition. So which kits made the best wines? Here are the top 100 scoring wine kits according to the judges.
Wine Kit Tweaks
MEMBERS ONLYOne of the best things about wine kits is that they are relatively easy to make into great tasting wine if you just follow the directions. However, once you’ve mastered that skill, you may be tempted to tweak the instructions or ingredients to customize your wine more to your liking.
Aging Wine Kits: Tips From the Pros
FREEKit wines are often consumed fairly young, but great things can happen if you allow the bottles to age longer. Two supply shop owners give guidance and teach the basics of patience and best practices for aging kit wines.
Kit Wine Glossary
MEMBERS ONLYI have to confess, I love glossaries. They’re the second section I check when I pick up a text or non-fiction book (the first is always the author’s picture: would I listen to this person in real life? If not I don’t buy the book. That’s why I hired an actor to stand in for
Storing and Enjoying Your Kit Wine
MEMBERS ONLYOnce you’ve mastered the art and craft of making kit wines, what do you do with them? Drink them, of course! We don’t need to teach you how to drink and appreciate wine, but there are some finer points to cellaring, decanting and pairing wine with food that you may findhelpful. Building a wine collection
Wine Kit Troubleshooting and Tips
MEMBERS ONLYWinemaking takes some practice. Even the most careful kit winemaker can end up scratching his or her head and calling the local kit supplier or a kit manufacturer for help. It’s ok. Take a deep breath and take solace in the fact that many winemakers have come before you, many of them running into (and
Keys To Great Winemaking
MEMBERS ONLYKits wines are designed so that the average person can produce a nice, drinkable wine. However, for the home winemaker interested in making the highest quality wine possible, there are several avenues to getting the best performance from your starting materials and making a truly great wine. As with any style of winemaking — whether
Getting Started With Wine Kits
MEMBERS ONLYWine kits contain all the ingredients you need to make a great wine, but the catch is that you have to actually make it. To get from a collection of ingredients to sharing a bottle of wine with some friends, you will need the proper equipment, an understanding of your kit’s contents and a feel
Seven habits Of Successful Kit Winemakers
FREEIf you want your kit wine to turn out great every time, and avoid the pitfalls that crop up time and again, here are the seven highly fermentative habits you need to
Wine Kit First Aid
FREEYour wine won’t ferment. It ferments too quickly. It ferments too slowly. It won’t quit fermenting at all! The wine won’t clear in the carboy. No, wait: It’s clear in the carboy
Fin(d)ing Clarity in the Five S’s
FREEWhen it comes to clarifying your wine kit, there are five “S’s” that will guide your way: Start, stir, smash, sweep, and suppress.
Wine Kit Questions: Water and Bubbles
MEMBERS ONLY“A letter is an unannounced visit, the postman the agent of rude surprises. One ought to reserve an hour a week for receiving letters and afterwards take a bath.” -Friedrich Nietzsche Man, that Nietzsche was a grumpy Gus. I happen to love getting letters. Oh we get letters here at the “Wine Kits” column. We
What Kind Of Water To Use In My Wine Kit
FREETo address your first question: A chemistry teacher in high school once mentioned that since distilled water was free of minerals and many dissolved gasses, it behaved differently in osmotic equilibrium situations
Top 100 Wine Kits for 2017
MEMBERS ONLYHere are the top 100 wine kits from the 2017 WineMaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition.
Yeast Options
MEMBERS ONLYGood for you for thinking “outside the box” and going with a different yeast choice. I love both D80 and D254 for Syrah. D80 was isolated by the ICV in 1992 from the Côte Rôtie region of the Rhône Valley in France and is characterized, in my experience, by its big mouthfeel and licorice and