Adding Commercial Wine to Homemade Wine

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You know, you can do the experiment in small batches! Take a glass of wine (homemade or other wise), perhaps a 4 oz. pour. Then add 1 teaspoon of another wine, and see if you can tell the difference. (This is the same proportion as adding 1 bottle to a 6 gallon batch.) Or add more teaspoons, to test higher concentrations. (Probably best done by getting help from someone so the experiment would be blind, at least single-blind.)
 
If I'm understanding correctly, you are looking for/hoping to enhance the flavor of your project?? A Wiki lookup of the wine you're making should reveal some of the notable flavors associated. If so, you might want to research creating your own F-pac. Look up "Joeswine" ( on this site) for some great instruction/suggestion. Or you may prefer to simply buy some flavorings. I've used TORANI brand as they come in sooooo many flavors. As for headspace,,, in a standard carboy, liquid level @2"-3" below the bung would serve well.
 
CabSauv said:
Understood, but again, I'm not talking about for the purpose of topping off to reduce head space. I was referring to purposely using a big enough carboy and small enough batch of home made wine for a full bottle or multiple bottles of commercial wine for the purpose of influencing your homemade wine to adopt the flavors from it. Sorry if there's a gap in communication, I think it's because I'm a rookie newbie and some of you are seasoned wine makers. I understand now that it would likely not add much flavor, if any noticeable flavor at all. I think the assumption from the seasoned wine makers thought I meant topping off while I was actually meaning flavor influence and/or blending, but as a poster above said, it's home made wine and we can really make it to our liking. Kind of an aha moment for me (I thought to myself "Duh!"). Sorry for the confusion on the question but I certainly appreciate all the comments, it's nice to see how active this forum is and I can soak up all the wine making knowledge.
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Frankly, I'm just getting into the blending thing myself and have a couple batches planed just for that purpose.

I made a so-so Merlot and a mehhh Cab Sav....neither was anything to brag about. Was cleaning up the kitchen and there were two partial bottles on the counter so I just combined them into one. WOW! Man, we love those wines now! Going to remake each just to blend into a 10 gallon batch!
 
Sour Grapes, that's a great idea. I will have to try that and see what ratio starts to make a noticeable difference.

Floandgary, Hmm, that's very interesting. That opens up a whole new world of stuff I will have to try after I get a few batches under my belt and feel more comfortable with the process. And thanks for the head space tip!

Mismost, Yeah, it sounds like blends or making your own flavor pack are the two most practical use cases for adding large quantities together.

Thanks guys, great information from everyone!
 
I mean if you lined up 3 glasses of Kit (red wine) and mixed them up with 3 glasses of wine made from fresh grapes I could tell you which was which with 100% accuracy.

Kits (red wine) just never quite satisfied my taste buds you could say.

CabSauv said:
When you say it tasted like a "kit", what exactly does that mean to you? I've tasted a few different people's home made batches from kits that I thought it was as good or better than some middle of the line store bought wine.
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Don't get hung up on the thought of your wine having a "kit taste" to it though. Experienced makers and drinkers obviously can tell the difference. But until one becomes a connoisseur that should not affect your decision to make a kit. Im assuming the people who will be enjoying your wine are casual drinkers (maybe the occasional wannabe wine snob) who will appreciate and enjoy anything that doesn't taste like crap.
And you live in an area (not the middle of nowhere) where it's probably pretty easy to find a shop selling fresh juice from grapes in September and April "ish"
And kits are fun and come with instructions, but fresh juice is even more fun. And also can be much more less complicated for a newbie if you choose to let 'time' do most of your work that the kit will otherwise have you doing all in the first few weeks. (Degassing, clearing etc)
 
My dad and I will be the only ones drinking my wine and in regards to drinking I'd say he's experienced and I would say I'm getting there. Neither of us are connoisseurs but we can usually do a good job of differentiating good, too early, past peak, or just plain sucks. I've only had a few homemade wines and I don't think my dad has ever tried one so that's why I was wondering what a "kit taste" meant. I'm not worried about knowing if it's a kit or not if it tastes good. Luckily my dad and I have a very similar palate when it comes to wine so if I can hit the mark for me then it should be a win/win for both of us but I'm planning on letting my batch mature for next winter, I'm in no rush if it results in better flavor.
 
Everyones winemaking journey is different. Some people love kits and the wine they produce some don't. For me something was always not quite right, with red wine from a kit. White's from a kit are much, much better and closer to the real deal. It probably has something to do with fermentation on 100lbs of grape skins for 6 gallons of wine made from fresh grapes vs a kit having at best a 2lb grape pack if your lucky. You will know what you know when you know it as they say!
 
Ideally I'd love to try grapes but I know that means more equipment, time, and dedication. I'm hoping my dad picks up on this hobby so he has something to do during his retirement which is quickly approaching. I have read that juice is better than concentrate, and I'm sure some might disagree, but I'm going to start experimenting and see where it leads. I'll see what we like, don't like, and go from there. I just look forward to getting started (fingers crossed this weekend I can get to my local HBS).
 
CabSauv said:
Understood, but again, I'm not talking about for the purpose of topping off to reduce head space. I was referring to purposely using a big enough carboy and small enough batch of home made wine for a full bottle or multiple bottles of commercial wine for the purpose of influencing your homemade wine to adopt the flavors from it. Sorry if there's a gap in communication, I think it's because I'm a rookie newbie and some of you are seasoned wine makers. I understand now that it would likely not add much flavor, if any noticeable flavor at all. I think the assumption from the seasoned wine makers thought I meant topping off while I was actually meaning flavor influence and/or blending, but as a poster above said, it's home made wine and we can really make it to our liking. Kind of an aha moment for me (I thought to myself "Duh!"). Sorry for the confusion on the question but I certainly appreciate all the comments, it's nice to see how active this forum is and I can soak up all the wine making knowledge.
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If you have a good wine store near you, you can buy some single varietal commercial wines that could influence your 5 gallon home made wine. It really depends upon what you are lacking in your home made wine. For example, I had a batch of cabernet from a juice bucket that was really lacking some body, and middle so I added 2 bottles of a 100% 2yr old commercial petite Syrah. The petite was a palate crushing oak and tannin monster on its own, but once blended it was able to raise the cab up a notch to make it a more interesting wine.
 
Treeman said:
If you have a good wine store near you, you can buy some single varietal commercial wines that could influence your 5 gallon home made wine. It really depends upon what you are lacking in your home made wine. For example, I had a batch of cabernet from a juice bucket that was really lacking some body, and middle so I added 2 bottles of a 100% 2yr old commercial petite Syrah. The petite was a palate crushing oak and tannin monster on its own, but once blended it was able to raise the cab up a notch to make it a more interesting wine.
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Good post. Just because you're making Cabernet doesn't mean you have to top it up with Cabernet. Petite Sirah is great on its own, but is also excellent in blends to bring color, body and tannin up.
 
There are a few examples petite verdot from Cali and Argentina that I have looked at for a bordeaux blend. I'm not likely to make 3-5 gallons of verdot, but will purchase a few commercial bottles to have around for blending.
 

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