Are Wine Making Kits Any Good?

The Verdict

Let's just get this out of the way... Wine kits are an incredible way to make wine. Making wine using kits has come a long way. You used to just get concentrate in a can and it was iffy at best. That's why kits had a bad rap. Now you get high quality concentrate or a blend of concentrates sourced from the best vineyards around the world.

The technology to produce the kits has gotten so much better over the last 10 years which results in better concentrates and better wines. If you go by the competition results, kit wines are great. They are winning awards and are becoming more difficult to distinguish from commercially available wines.




Since kit manufacturers are able to source wines from both the northern and southern hemispheres, they are able to have a year round supply of quality grapes. Since kit makers need to be making their concentrate year round this works out really well. Vineyards only make their wines once a year.

Just like normal growers and wineries, kit makers harvest their grapes based on acidity, pH, and sugar. They also choose their grapes based on physiological and sensorial characteristics like color and flavors. All of these items need to be balanced so you end up with the best wine possible.

How the Kits Are Produced 

When white varietal grapes are crushed and pressed, the resulting juice is transferred into tanks. The juice is left there until the unwanted solids have time to settle and can be removed. Sulfite is then added to the juice to stabilize it. After that the enzymes that break down pectin and bentonite are added. Both of those also play a critical role in clarifying the juice as well. At this point the juice needs to be cold stabilized and filtered. The juice needs to be maintained cold to prevent fermentation from starting.

To make red varietals, the color must be extracted during the juice processing instead of the normal fermentation stage in wine making. To accomplish this the grapes are crushed and allowed to macerate with the juice in a tank at cold temperatures to prevent fermentation. Enzymes are added to extract color and aromas from grape skins. This is the most crucial step in getting high quality red juice. Once the desired quality is achieved the kit makers press the grapes and the juice continues the processing stages. Sometimes grapes are kets for shipping with kits that need additional maceration during the winemaking process.

At this point the steps are the same for both red and white juices. They are run through a concentrator to remove some of the water and concentrate the juice. During processing some key aromas and flavors may be lost. They can be recovered and returned to this concentrate at this point. This is the biggest step that differentiate kits of today. They now have minimal loss in aroma and flavor.

The concentrate is they chilled to tartrate stabilize it to ensure it doesn't happen during the winemaking process or while bottles are being chilled after.

It's at this point where the kit maker decides on the quality and style of wine the kit will produce. The juice concentrate might be blended with other concentrates to produce a Bordeaux-style red (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot) or varietal juices can be added for greater character.

In the final step of the process the concentrate is pasteurized. This kills any microorganisms that might spoilt the juice. It's then packaged for sale.