HOW TO START MAKING WINE

A Clear Guide For The Overwhelmed Beginner

I received an email not too long ago that rather disturbed me. It
was from an individual who had been pondering about whether or
not they wanted to start making their own wine. They had just
been to our web site, looking through the endless selection of
supplies, equipment, ingredients, recipes and such.

The email stated that they had been thinking about making wine
off and on for several months, but after finding our site and
looking through it they now felt very "intimidated" by the whole
idea. "So many different kinds of ingredients, yeasts,
containers, testers.... I just feel overwhelmed." But, the part
of the email that really got me is when they said, "I don't think
this is something I really want to do".

As you might imagine my heart just sank with those words. It has
always been our intentions to promote home wine making, not be a
reason for someone to shy away.

But, after I thought about it I was able to see how the
first-time visitor might be "intimidated". Without a doubt there
are a lot of different products, a lot of little pieces to what
seems to be--for the beginning winemaker, anyway--a very big
puzzle.

If the email mentioned above seems like something you could have
written--in other words, you're thinking about making wine but
feel a little overwhelmed--then this article's for you.


-- Putting Things In Perspective

- The Ingredients:
Here's something to start out with that will eliminate a lot of
the confusion right from the start. A lot of the products we
offer are seldom needed to make wine. This statement may seem a
little counterproductive for someone trying to sell wine making
supplies, but it's true.

For example, the following items: Calcium Carbonate, Acid
Reducing Crystals, Lactose, Magnesium Sulfate, Instant Anti-Foam,
Ascorbic Acid, and many others, are ingredients that are used in
unique situations, not all the time. And, they are certainly not
items that you need to concern yourself with as a beginner.

There are just a hand-full of ingredients that are used on a
regular basis when making wine. They are: Acid Blend, Yeast
Nutrient, Yeast Energizer, Tannin, Pectic Enzyme, Campden Tablets
and Yeast. These seven simple ingredients will allow you to make
95 percent of the wines you could ever imagine making.

Secondly, we do offer what would be considered *ingredient kits.*
These are packages that contain all of the ingredients needed to
produce 6 gallons of wine. They come with the juice, the yeast,
nutrients... the same type of ingredients as mentioned above--all
pre-measured in separate little packets.

Just follow the directions that comes with the ingredient kit and
put in the individual packets as they are called for. It's that
simple. They come with directions that are clear, complete and
concise. They assume you know absolutely nothing about what you
are doing and that it's the first time you have ever made wine.

While these ingredient kits are designed in such a way to be easy
and simple to use, their quality is superior enough to keep even
the old pros coming back to them. The wines they produce are
simply remarkable and provide quite a surprise for the
unsuspecting, first-time winemaker.

Currently, we offer 63 different ingredient kits across four
different brands. So, selection is not an issue. Everything from
a hearty Cabernet Sauvignon to a crisp Peach Chardonnay is
available. The four brands are as follows:

California Connoisseur:
These ingredient kits include packaged juices from grapes grown
in California such as: Zinfandel, Beaujolais, Merlot and so on.

European Select:
These ingredient kits include packaged juices from grapes grown
throughout various regions in Europe. They include such types as:
Cabernet, Pinot Grigio, Chianti and so on.

Legacy:
These ingredient kits are similar to the European Select kits in
the sense that the grapes are grown throughout Europe. But, the
Legacy kits come in a much larger package that consist of a blend
of pure juice and concentrate.

Niagara Mist:
This is a wonderful line of ingredient kits that produce grape
and fruit blends. Some examples are, Strawberry-Zinfandel or
Cranberry-Shiraz.


- The Equipment:
When it comes to the equipment you will need, we have:
containers, hydrometers, jugs, hoses, brushes... it goes on and
on. And, again the issue for the beginning winemaker is the same,
"What do I need if I'm just starting out?"

A simple way to answer this question is to look at our starter
kits. They include not only the ingredients but the equipment as
well. We call them "Necessities Boxes". This is because we don't
try to sell you everything under the sun, but rather the
essentials that you will need--the necessities.

We have three different Necessities Boxes to choose from,
depending on what you want to accomplish. They are as follows:

California Connoisseur Necessities Box:
This is a collection of equipment that would be appropriate for
making wine with any of our boxed ingredient kits mentioned
earlier. We call it the "California Connoisseur" Necessities Box
because it includes your choice of ingredient kit from that
particular brand. But, it will also work just as well later on
for any of the other ingredient kits mentioned earlier in this
article.

SunCal Necessities Box:
This kit has all the the items necessary to make wine using our
SunCal juices. These juices are not ingredient kits, but rather,
cans of concentrate juice on its own. The SunCal Necessities Box
provides the additional ingredient and equipment necessary to
make wine using these juices.

Your Fruit! Necessities Box:
If packaged juices is not how you are looking to make wine, then
we have the "Your Fruit! Necessities Box". It contains all the
equipment and ingredients you will need for making wine using
your own fruit. It has a recipe book with over 100 different wine
recipes: apricot, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, elderberry,
gooseberry, strawberry, to name a few.

Price Savings: What also makes these kits so attractive is that
all three are offered at a special, introductory price. This
represents a saving to you of 15% to 25% off the individual
prices.


-- Other Resources For The Beginner

Here is some other helpful information for the beginning
winemaker that will help to get you on the right track. You don't
necessarily need to read them all, but you might look at one or
two that seem interesting to you.

"Getting Started In Home Wine Making"

"The Hottest Selling Wine Making Juices Of 2004"

"Home Wine Making With Fruits"

"Five Fundamentals To Keeping Your Wine Making On Track"
 

To receive our free winemaking newsletter! Click Here

E. C. Kraus

Home Wine & Beer Making Supplies

Address: 733 S. Northern Blvd. - P. O. Box 7850 - Independence, MO  64053

Phone:(816) 254-7448  Fax:(816) 254-7051  Toll Free: (800) 353-1906

Email: customerservice@eckraus.com

Copyright (c) 2003-2005, Kraus Sales, L. L. C. All rights reserved. This article may be passed

along to friends and others, as long as it is used in its entirety. Distribution or publishing of

this article in partial or edited form is prohibited.