Articles

We reveal the 100 highest scoring kit wines judged in the 2024 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition.

The idea that making a great tasting wine from a kit is simple if you follow the directions isn’t wrong, though there is often a bit more to it in order to make a wine worthy of winning a gold medal. Three acclaimed amateur winemakers share their advice for making a red wine from a kit that will stand out in competition and at the dinner table.

We share the 100 best-performing wine kits in the 2023 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition.

A lot of work goes into formulating a wine kit long before it goes to market. Learn how kits are developed, the contents of kits and the role each plays, and what separates one kit from another.

Following 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.

There 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.

Wine 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.

Answers to 15 of the most common questions winemakers ask about making wine from kits.

This 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

Nearly 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.

One 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.

I 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

Once 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

Winemaking 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.

Kits 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

Wine 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

If 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

Your 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

“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,

Here are the top 100 wine kits from the 2017 WineMaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition.

Here’s the top 100 wine kits from the 2016 WineMaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition

An introduction to what you’ll find in your first wine kit.

Try some new grape varieties similar to the tried and true varieties you already know you enjoy drinking.

Looking to buy your first wine kit? Here’s what you need to know before you start shopping.

  Back in the April-May 2002 issue of WineMaker I wrote an article about picking the right wine kit. The McGuffin of the article was the idea that there was a right