Making your own wine is satisfying and easy. As long as you ferment great juice, keep everything sanitary, and give it enough time to age (3 months or more for whites, 6 months or more for reds), you will get great wine.
Here at William’s, we have developed our William’s California Wine Kits with this philosophy in mind. Our Kits include 192 ounces of pure California varietal grape concentrate, condensed at temperatures that never exceed 180 degrees F. from Central Valley wine grapes picked at their ripe peak in the late Summer and early Fall. To complement the varietal juice, specially selected dry wine yeast, oak chips, and nutrient are also included as needed. Unlike many wine kits featuring added sugar, this 192 ounces of pure concentrate is all that is needed (except for the yeast and addtives) to produce 5 gallons (24 bottles) of varietal wine.
This Merlot kit will produce a full-flavored red wine with a softer character than Cabernet Sauvignon, yet richer than Zinfandel. A very popular grape that produces a rich red that matures a little faster than Cabernet. An excellent choice for those who like smooth red wines, with a bit less dry tannin and boldness than Cabernet.
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to download the instructions in pdf format.
Feb 14, 2019 by Christie S
Q: Newbie - Got our kit. Can you tell us what supplies we need to buy to start the process. IE: syphons, plugs, fermenter's. We got the 5 Gallon kit
A: You will need the items we have in our home winery https://www.williamsbrewing.com/Williams-Home-Winery-C33.aspx You can use plastic T-corks https://www.williamsbrewing.com/Plastic-T-Corks-Bag-Of-25-P3101.aspx instead of regular corks and save some money not having to buy a corker or real corks.
Mar 25, 2018 by Jim Daum
Q: Is treated city water OK to use, or must you use untreated water in the wine making kits?
A: A good rule of thumb is if the water tastes good, use it. If the treated city water does not taste as good as bottled water, use bottled water (do not use distilled water).
Sep 06, 2017 by Charlie W
Q: Do you have the 2017 harvest juice in yet?
A: No, probably will not be until late October or so.
Jul 19, 2017 by Kevin Cooper
Q: What kind of sugar should be used
A: Our wine concentrates are 100% grape juice and do not have any added sugar, nor is any needed prior to fermentation.
Jul 13, 2017 by Bob C
Q: Does the juice concentrate have Potassium Metabisulphite as an additive. I usually see that added earlier in the process, just wondering why you recommend adding to the wine instead of earlier. I ordered the wine kit & about to begin. Thanks
A: Yes, sulfites are added to the concentrate and are present in the kits when they are packaged. Our kits also sulphite (camden) tablets which are added at bottling as an anti-oxident.
Merlot
very good moderate mouth feel. Bottled about 2 weeks ago. Had 3/4 bottle left so drank that. Needs about 6 more months to soften but 1st blush was not bad.
Merlot
This Merlot turned out to be the smoothest wine that I have made to date. I waited for 9 months before bottling. I have already bought two more kits.
One of our favorites
We have made this several times, always with excellent results. We order Williams’ kits two at a time for our everyday go to wine
Doing something wrong?
After following the instructions carefully and aging the bottles for a year, my kit tastes rather sweet, closer to a Port, and with a funny initial bite. It might be due to incomplete fermentation, though I let it sit for the prescribed time before bottling. An odd flavor overall, nothing like professionally produced wine, but still drinkable. William's Responds: It could be a minor infection. Try to get the final gravity down to under 1.000 before bottling for best results.
Merlot & Chardonnay kits
I only started these Oct. 1, but they have a high sugar content and smell good. I won't know more for at least another 6 months.