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 Chardonnay Kit features grapes grown in Woodbridge, California. Chardonnay, a grape that produces a full-bodied white wine with a hint of buttery softness and full fruit character. This one can taste fully mature at 1 year after bottling, and be very drinkable after 6 months.
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to download the instructions in pdf format.IMMEDIATE REFRIGERATION IS REQUIRED ONCE THIS KIT IS RECEIVED
Mar 01, 2021 by Renee
Q: What is the alcohol content in these wine kits?
A: Typically, 13.5 to 14.5%
Hydrate yeast
I've made wine with this kit several times without hydrating the yeast first. My friend commented that the wine didn't have much "mouth". My last batch I decided to hydrate the yeast and the outcome was a much improved in the mouth presence. Very fruity.
Chardonnay kit
I've made this wine twice. The first batch I poured down the drain. The second is headed the same direction. I've been a very successful home brewer for nearly 20 years but have had almost no luck with the wine kits from Williams. I've tried 6 or 7. I wanted to enhance the oak in the first 3 kits and that did not end well, so that's my fault. The next 3 or 4 however, did not even come close to 2 buck Chuck in drinkability. I like Williams and buy nearly all my brewing supplies from them, but their wine kits don't work for me. I'm sure Williams means well by offering a low priced kit, but if you know anything about winemaking you need to know what you're starting out with. With these kits you're totally clueless, and that won't produce good wine.
Even the French Like It
We served this to our parish priest who is French, and he really liked it. He took a few bottles home and spread to word to other wine-loving members of our congregation, who also got some bottles. The only downside to gaining fans is that I'm losing wine! This wine is best if you can keep yourself from drinking it all right away. A year on, it has really matured well.
Yummy Chard
My beautiful girlfriend turned me onto Chardonnays. She has a palate for 'oaky' Chards and typically spends $20+ a bottle for quality Chardonnays. We decided to try Williams Chardonnay this past winter, and it was in the bottle late April. I did add french oak to the secondary(not included in kit), as I mentioned, she likes an 'oaky' Chard. This wine fermented out great and was VERY tasty sneaking samples as it worked in the fermenter. We regularly opened bottles as it aged and each just kept getting better and better! Very buttery, strong hints of apple, and of course oaky. I just built our second batch today and as fantastic as this Chardonnay is at a young age, we will be buying many more in order to hopefully build a stockpile in hopes of some making it past 1 year. Quality Chardonnay...you can't go wrong with this one!
Yummy Chardonnay
Mine also had crystals, but it didn't effect the kit at all - bottled it about a month ago, and had a glass or two. It was very good! And it will be better in a few months. I can hardly wait....