5 ms·

Ontario has a bunch of make-your-own wine companies that work like wine bricks. 1. you buy 5 gallons of grape juice for ~$20 per gallon. 2. yeast is dropped i

Ontario has a bunch of make-your-own wine companies that work like wine bricks. 1. you buy 5 gallons of grape juice for ~$20 per gallon. 2. yeast is dropped into your grape juice 3. you come to the store to decant your grape juice into wine bottles and cork them up. Since no alcohol is bought or sold, you avoid the (very high) taxes on liquor. You end up with ~28 bottles of wine for ~$4 per bottle. It's not the greatest wine, but it's ok for sangria and cooking, and it's a good story if you hang out with people who like to talk about tax loopholes...

pantulis 5y ago
Guess that's the kind of wine that goes well with Coke, Pepsi or my personal fav Lemon Fanta.
- alistairSH 5y ago
  Am I misreading, or are you saying you mix wine with soda/pop?
  - rozenmd 5y ago
    it's a Thing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calimocho https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calimocho
    - dwringer 5y ago
      I always heard a mixture of wine and soda pop called a "wine cooler", a use that would have gone back several decades, but Wikipedia seems to think that specifically means a mix of fruit juice and wine. There is some discussion in the talk page about this discrepancy. I guess maybe the term was a regional thing.
      - pantulis 5y ago
        I guess it's not that an original invention so it may have different names in different places ;)
  - pantulis 5y ago
    Yes. Soda, wine and ice. Of course I am not endorsing to do the mix with good wine ;)
jerrysievert 5y ago
thankfully, here, we have Trader Joe's and their "3 buck chuck". the local Kroger store (Fred Meyer) also has $3 wine, but I think of that as "emergency wine" - the 3 buck chuck is much, much better. I have some questions though: 1. do they teach you about sanitization and airlocks, or is it simply "toss some yeast in this bottle" 2. I'm guessing no aging? it would be awesome if they allowed you to pop some in a barrel for aging 3. (not really a question) but wow, $20/gallon is still kind of spendy!
- lebuffon 5y ago
  It's only Canadian money. :-) <$16 USD
- vzidex 5y ago
  I've done it as well with my parents, who love wine. At the shops I've been to, you buy the grape concentrate up front and they handle to process of making it up until bottling. Once the juice has fermented, you go in and they walk you through cleaning and sanitizing the bottles, filling them, corking them, and usually shrink-wrapping the tops. They provide all the supplies except the bottles themselves - customers bring their own, saved from buying wine the "normal" way. Never seen a shop do ageing, so the wine will be noticeably "young". My parents like dryer and sharper white wines anyways (Pinot Grigio, Riesling, etc.) so it doesn't bother them. Also note that due to taxes and such, the cheapest wine you'll find commercially is C$11 a bottle, so even at C$20 / gallon you're getting a great deal if you like the resulting wines. Personally, I quite like the wines my folks get through these shops - properly chilled they make a wonderfully refreshing beverage in the summer, and we'll often drink a few bottles on the back deck together when I go to see them.
peckrob 5y ago
DIY winemaking kits can actually make some pretty decent wines if you spend a bit of time and money getting proper equipment. Not a lot - $100 will get you a really, really good setup with two glass carboys for fermenting, siphons, thief and test jar, hydrometer, corker, etc. I've been making my own wines for years now. Occasionally I'll do a full from-scratch wine, but more often I buy a $40 kit from Midwest Supplies [0] that has all the components - grape juice concentrate, fruit essence, yeasts, kieselsol and chitosan, potassium metabisulfite as well as full detailed instructions. All you need is four gallons of distilled water. 28 days later, ~30 bottles pretty good wine! It won't win awards or anything, but it'll make a fantastic table wine and great for everyday meals. The only downside is that you'll spend a bit of time cleaning and sterilizing things and you'll remember all the stuff you forgot from high school chemistry class. :) [0] https://www.midwestsupplies.com/ https://www.midwestsupplies.com/
- galangalalgol 5y ago
  I've always avoided wine brewing. Lots of cider ceyser and beer. What styles/varietals are ok right out of the secondary like that? Edit: mostly interested in Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, vino verde, and maybe tempranillo. The kits seem pretty expensive. Trader joes has very tasty bottles in those styles (maybe not the CS) for $5.
  - peckrob 5y ago
    Aging is optional; it will improve the wine, but there's nothing stopping you from drinking it immediately and it will probably taste pretty decent. Many wines are perfectly drinkable after secondary fermentation has finished (and you've added the metabisulfite to fully stop it unless you're making champagne and you want additional carbonation). The longer you age it and the more work you put into it, the better the end product, but that's true for most things. Many store-bought wines are less than a year old. To me wines are actually less work to homebrew than beer. Especially if you're working from a kit, there's no need to cook anything - just dump everything in the fermenter and go. Beyond that the process is largely similar. Primary fermentation -> secondary fermentation -> bottling -> drinking. They're pretty forgiving too. In general, whites take a bit more work to get a really good looking product than reds. For a white, I'll usually rack at least three times over about a week, and then filter it so I get a nice, amber-clear end product with no sediment. Note that this doesn't really impact the taste much, just the appearance. Reds I usually don't bother to rack more than once or maybe twice. When I am done I usually sit my bottles upright in a cool, dark area for a few days before putting them in the wine rack on their sides. This one [0] specifically is a family favorite. Has a nice light, somewhat fruit taste that's great for a warm summer evening. This one is best kept cool (I keep a few of my bottles that we're about to drink in a wine refrigerator.) [0] https://www.midwestsupplies.com/collections/riesling-recipe-kits/products/green-apple-riesling-master-vintner-island-bliss https://www.midwestsupplies.com/collections/riesling-recipe-...
tantalor 5y ago
Love the use of passive voice! "yeast is dropped", "taxes were evaded"
softfalcon 5y ago
We have this in Western Canada too! Many places in BC do it. I would like to share a positive experience I've had. If you go up to $5-8 a bottle, there are some really high quality grapes you can get. There is one grape juice supplier called Château-Vieux-du-Roi which is from a region close to where Châteauneuf-du-Pape is produced in France. We have taken Châteauneuf-du-Pape bottles and put the Château-Vieux-du-Roi wine inside. Blind taste tests from folks who have had the real Châteauneuf-du-Pape often fail to tell the difference. We have to age the knock-off Château-Vieux-du-Roi for 2-3 years to get it to the same quality, but by golly is it ever delicious wine. If you're impatient, it's still quite tasty after only 6 months to a year of aging in the bottle. Considering a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape goes for a minimum of $30 CAD, it's an incredible savings.

pantulis 5y ago

Guess that's the kind of wine that goes well with Coke, Pepsi or my personal fav Lemon Fanta.

alistairSH 5y ago
Am I misreading, or are you saying you mix wine with soda/pop?
- rozenmd 5y ago
  it's a Thing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calimocho https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calimocho
  - dwringer 5y ago
    I always heard a mixture of wine and soda pop called a "wine cooler", a use that would have gone back several decades, but Wikipedia seems to think that specifically means a mix of fruit juice and wine. There is some discussion in the talk page about this discrepancy. I guess maybe the term was a regional thing.
    - pantulis 5y ago
      I guess it's not that an original invention so it may have different names in different places ;)
- pantulis 5y ago
  Yes. Soda, wine and ice. Of course I am not endorsing to do the mix with good wine ;)

jerrysievert 5y ago

thankfully, here, we have Trader Joe's and their "3 buck chuck". the local Kroger store (Fred Meyer) also has $3 wine, but I think of that as "emergency wine" - the 3 buck chuck is much, much better. I have some questions though: 1. do they teach you about sanitization and airlocks, or is it simply "toss some yeast in this bottle" 2. I'm guessing no aging? it would be awesome if they allowed you to pop some in a barrel for aging 3. (not really a question) but wow, $20/gallon is still kind of spendy!

lebuffon 5y ago
It's only Canadian money. :-) <$16 USD
vzidex 5y ago
I've done it as well with my parents, who love wine. At the shops I've been to, you buy the grape concentrate up front and they handle to process of making it up until bottling. Once the juice has fermented, you go in and they walk you through cleaning and sanitizing the bottles, filling them, corking them, and usually shrink-wrapping the tops. They provide all the supplies except the bottles themselves - customers bring their own, saved from buying wine the "normal" way. Never seen a shop do ageing, so the wine will be noticeably "young". My parents like dryer and sharper white wines anyways (Pinot Grigio, Riesling, etc.) so it doesn't bother them. Also note that due to taxes and such, the cheapest wine you'll find commercially is C$11 a bottle, so even at C$20 / gallon you're getting a great deal if you like the resulting wines. Personally, I quite like the wines my folks get through these shops - properly chilled they make a wonderfully refreshing beverage in the summer, and we'll often drink a few bottles on the back deck together when I go to see them.

peckrob 5y ago

DIY winemaking kits can actually make some pretty decent wines if you spend a bit of time and money getting proper equipment. Not a lot - $100 will get you a really, really good setup with two glass carboys for fermenting, siphons, thief and test jar, hydrometer, corker, etc. I've been making my own wines for years now. Occasionally I'll do a full from-scratch wine, but more often I buy a $40 kit from Midwest Supplies [0] that has all the components - grape juice concentrate, fruit essence, yeasts, kieselsol and chitosan, potassium metabisulfite as well as full detailed instructions. All you need is four gallons of distilled water. 28 days later, ~30 bottles pretty good wine! It won't win awards or anything, but it'll make a fantastic table wine and great for everyday meals. The only downside is that you'll spend a bit of time cleaning and sterilizing things and you'll remember all the stuff you forgot from high school chemistry class. :) [0] https://www.midwestsupplies.com/ https://www.midwestsupplies.com/

galangalalgol 5y ago
I've always avoided wine brewing. Lots of cider ceyser and beer. What styles/varietals are ok right out of the secondary like that? Edit: mostly interested in Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, vino verde, and maybe tempranillo. The kits seem pretty expensive. Trader joes has very tasty bottles in those styles (maybe not the CS) for $5.
- peckrob 5y ago
  Aging is optional; it will improve the wine, but there's nothing stopping you from drinking it immediately and it will probably taste pretty decent. Many wines are perfectly drinkable after secondary fermentation has finished (and you've added the metabisulfite to fully stop it unless you're making champagne and you want additional carbonation). The longer you age it and the more work you put into it, the better the end product, but that's true for most things. Many store-bought wines are less than a year old. To me wines are actually less work to homebrew than beer. Especially if you're working from a kit, there's no need to cook anything - just dump everything in the fermenter and go. Beyond that the process is largely similar. Primary fermentation -> secondary fermentation -> bottling -> drinking. They're pretty forgiving too. In general, whites take a bit more work to get a really good looking product than reds. For a white, I'll usually rack at least three times over about a week, and then filter it so I get a nice, amber-clear end product with no sediment. Note that this doesn't really impact the taste much, just the appearance. Reds I usually don't bother to rack more than once or maybe twice. When I am done I usually sit my bottles upright in a cool, dark area for a few days before putting them in the wine rack on their sides. This one [0] specifically is a family favorite. Has a nice light, somewhat fruit taste that's great for a warm summer evening. This one is best kept cool (I keep a few of my bottles that we're about to drink in a wine refrigerator.) [0] https://www.midwestsupplies.com/collections/riesling-recipe-kits/products/green-apple-riesling-master-vintner-island-bliss https://www.midwestsupplies.com/collections/riesling-recipe-...

tantalor 5y ago

Love the use of passive voice! "yeast is dropped", "taxes were evaded"

softfalcon 5y ago

We have this in Western Canada too! Many places in BC do it. I would like to share a positive experience I've had. If you go up to $5-8 a bottle, there are some really high quality grapes you can get. There is one grape juice supplier called Château-Vieux-du-Roi which is from a region close to where Châteauneuf-du-Pape is produced in France. We have taken Châteauneuf-du-Pape bottles and put the Château-Vieux-du-Roi wine inside. Blind taste tests from folks who have had the real Châteauneuf-du-Pape often fail to tell the difference. We have to age the knock-off Château-Vieux-du-Roi for 2-3 years to get it to the same quality, but by golly is it ever delicious wine. If you're impatient, it's still quite tasty after only 6 months to a year of aging in the bottle. Considering a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape goes for a minimum of $30 CAD, it's an incredible savings.