Wine making in small batches for personal consumption has been around as long as wine itself. In the United States, personal wine making was brought over from Europe as a family skill in the 18th and 19th century. Although you can't sell any wine that you produce from home, it's perfectly legal and is in fact a thriving hobby.
Wine making for personal consumption is, in a way, similar to gardening. Growing or producing a product for personal consumption lends a sense of pride, although wine making is much more complex than growing carrots. You'll need special equipment, which years ago was cumbersome and bulky. Now, there are self contained kits which fit neatly into any small space, like the corner of a basement.
Making your first batch of wine is possible in your own home with a wine making starter kit. These kits generally cost $125 to $200 and include everything you need as a fledgling winemaker. You'll receive supplies, gadgets, ingredients, and sealable containers to hold the wine while it ferments.
In a starter kit, included are a couple of air sealable jugs to store the wine, ingredients, corks, and specialty tools. And of course, complete detailed instructions. From opening the box to drinking the wine, the whole process takes about a month. Your ingredients will vary depending upon what type you choose to make.
Process And Results
The process itself is fairly easy, although a bit stop and start. For example, after the first step, basically consisting of mixing ingredients, there's a 24 hour waiting period to allow the ingredients to settle. Then, another cleansing of sediment after 5 or 6 days, followed by the 4 to 6 week fermenting period.
Our first batch was, well, our first batch. Certainly not a masterpiece, but drinkable nonetheless. It was what we'd call a simple red table wine, and we were encouraged enough to try the process again. We learned that wine making is a skill that improves the more you practice.
The next batch yielded better results. We produced an apricot wine, using a recipe modeled after a wine we'd enjoyed on one of our U.S. wine trails travels. We were brave enough to share some of this with friends and family, and were pleasantly surprised that it received positive reviews (and requests for a 2nd glass).
We've basically stayed with fruit wines since then, as we're able to experiment somewhat in terms of how much fruit we add and how it affects the end product. While we still enjoy a good wine purchase, it's been fun to share with people that we're wine makers!
If you have a little patience and enjoy growing things or producing something all your own, consider wine making. We never thought of ourselves as ever being wine makers, but it's been fun and a great topic of conversation. You'll need a willingness to experiment, and a sense of humor for when one of your batches inevitably flops. But, you'll experience a real sense of pride when someone pays compliments to the winemaker!
Jim Hofman is an author and owner of several wine related websites, and a novice wine maker. For more information, be sure to visit Jim's resource site devoted to wine, wine accessories, and Wine Making Kits [http://www.wine101.info]. Cheers!
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