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Making wine at home has long been popular, with origins in the United States going back to the 19th century. Wine lovers who immigrated from Europe brought with them a knowledge of making wine, and often did so for personal consumption. There still exists a common misconception that making wine at home is illegal. It's not, as long as you don't sell the wine you make at home.

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 wine making equipment, which years ago was cumbersome and bulky. Now, there are self contained wine making 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.

With a wine making starter kit, not much is left to chance. You'll be provided a detailed set of instructions, with no knowledge assumed. That actually worked well for us since we knew absolutely nothing about making wine. The entire process takes anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks, from opening the wine kit box to actually drinking the wine.

The Process And The Taste

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.

We chose a simple red table wine as our first effort. We found it palatable and quite drinkable, but nowhere near the quality we'd experienced from small local wineries. However, we were encouraged by our efforts and forged ahead with another batch, feeling wine making was a skill to be perfected by practice.

Our second batch was a fruit wine, an light apricot offering we tried to model after a small winery style we'd encountered on a U.S. wine trail visit. This batch we did share with family and friends. It received an almost universal thumbs up from those who tasted it. For reference, we used about 15 pounds of apricot for our wine, and it leaned almost toward a blush style.

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!

So, if you're looking for a fun hobby and enjoy wine, consider wine making with a starter kit. You'll need a little patience and a desire to experiment, but you'll experience the pride that comes with producing wine from scratch.