Craft Winemaking Ingredients
Craft winemaking ingredients in our kits are sourced from world renowned vineyards and are engineered to succeed so you can enjoy top quality wines. Have we piqued your interest? Let’s dive into the details so you’re better equipped to make your own wines.
A typical red wine kit
Red wines typically have wet or dried grapes which white wine kits don’t. Contact with the grape skins can add colour and you don’t usually want that with white wines. Also, most red wine kits contain oak and very few whites do.
A typical red wine kit will include these ingredients:
- a bladder full of concentrated grape juice
- a sock
- bentonite
- oak powder, chips or cubes
- kieselsol
- chitosan
- yeast
If you’re curious about the sock, it helps contain the ingredients such as oak chips and cubes. It’s made of cheesecloth so it doesn’t impart any undesirable flavours into the wine.
A typical white wine kit
Most white wine kits are the bare basics which is what makes the wines light and refreshing. Some have ingredients that add aromas, flavours and sweetness.
A typical white wine kit will include:
It may also include:
- oak chips or powder
- elderflowers
- elderberries
- a flavour pack
If oak chips are included, we’ll use a sock to contain them when until the time comes to remove them.
Craft Winemaking – Art or Science?
These may be two of the things in school you thought you’d never need to know but never say never.
The art aspect means you can customize certain wine ingredients, for example, flavours, oaks and sweeteners.
The science aspect involves starting fermentation, conversion of sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide, stopping fermentation and removing carbon dioxide
In summary
Craft winemaking is both an art and a science. Craft winemaking kit ingredients are sourced from world renowned vineyards so our kits are engineered to succeed.
Every wine kit includes a bladder of grape juice concentrate along with bentonite and yeast. These, along with water are the key ingredients to starting fermentation.
When it’s time to stop fermentation, kieselsol, chitosan are used.
Other additives such as grape skins, oak and flavour enhancers may also be included. These are added at whichever stage is appropriate for the kit. Because our kits are engineered to succeed, we can give you a 100% satisfaction guarantee for the wine you make on our premises.