Many people are hesitant about trying consumer made wine because of concerns about the quality. They may have had a good-willed neighbour, who made wine in their basement by crushing grapes or buying fresh juice, give them a bottle, that they ended up pouring down the sink.
There is a scientific explanation for this: TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS (TDS)! When you crush grapes, the juice that is produced is quite cloudy. That’s due to the TDS that is floating around in the liquid. Some of these TDS are removed during fermentation and clearing, but some are not. These TDS create a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, they are what is responsible for giving the wine its unique characteristics. On the other hand, they are also responsible for that “green” taste that young wines have. The best way to deal with these TDS is to let them age, mature and even drop out of the wine as sediment, which is how the best and most expensive bottles in the world are produced.
This is why that wine from grapes your neighbour gave you was undrinkable (by anyone except the person who made it). The level of TDS was high enough that the wine should have been aged for several years, not several months, before consumption just as the bottles in the liquor stores are.
So how are consumer made wine kits different?
Enter the consumer made wine kits. These kits are also made from crushing grapes, but they are concentrated before shipping because they are coming from around the globe. The concentration process (low pressure, room temperature, evacuation) removes much of the TDS with the water, that cause the off flavours in young wines. There are three different price/quality levels you can make:
1. Easy drinking – Four-week kits
These kits include some fresh juice with the concentrate to add back a little more varietal character. They’re still light bodied and ready to drink sooner, but will improve for 1 to 2 years.
2. Full bodied – Six-week kits
These kits are over 50% fresh juice. Higher TDS levels and more varietal character, but they need a few weeks or months to mature because of the that. These can be cellared for several years.
3. Complex– Eight-week kits
These kits are mostly juice with some concentrate plus 2 litres of crushed grape skins. Fermenting on the skins pulls out the most TDS, giving the wine full bodied, complex and true to varietal character. They also need several months to a year to mellow. If you take a test sip of these wines at bottling time, you’ll get an idea of how your neighbour’s wine from crushed grapes tasted in its youth.
The main benefit of consumer made wine
Now here’s a little motivation to try consumer made wine. You can make $168 to $386 per hour doing it! Well, not make, but save!
- Invest about an hour of your time to make 30 bottles yourself for $132, compared to $300 from the liquor store, for a saving of $168 per hour.
- Full-bodied wine will cost you about $15 per bottle or $450 per batch of 30 versus $175 to make it yourself for a saving of $275 per hour.
- Complex wine will cost about $20 per bottle, $600 per batch versus $214, for a savings of $386 per hour.
Where else can you make that kind of money? Get the savings today; book your appointment to get started!