Welcome hdhunter,
In addition to what appleman posted I would like to add this info I found recently which should prove that folks likemost of us here are very happy with the wine we can make ourselves with wine kits.
The Roots of Custom Wine Making
I got great feedback by Tim Vandergrift of Winexpert Ltd, another supplier of custom wine making in Canada. Mr. Vandergrift mentioned that by reading the blog, he thought "Well, mass customization is exactly what we are doing for years" and was so kind to explain me the process of modularizing wine and condifuring at the point of sales:
<BLOCKQUOTE>"The consumer winemaking industry centres around a number of Canadian firms, and relies heavily on the mass customization paradigm. To give some background, the consumer-produced wine industry represents 20% of all wine consumed in Canada, both domestic and imported, and represents in excess of $300 million CAD at retail. Two provinces, British Columbia and Ontario, allow ‘Wine On Premise’, essentially personal wineries where customers may purchase a wine ‘kit’ (unfermented must, the raw material for wine) and contract for the production of small batches (typically 23 liters or roughly 30 bottles). The rest of the country has consumers purchasing the product and removing it to their homes for fermenting and processing.
Our company, Winexpert, produces wine kits equivalent to over 25 million bottles of finished wine every year. Where our mass customization comes in is in both the extent and variety of the product lines, the consumer packaging options (bottles, labels, capsules, etc.) and the value-added services and goods offered—wine related hardware and service items, custom barrel ageing, cellar planning, etc.
Customers begin their process by choosing the kind of wine experience they want by selecting the type of wine they wish to consume: we have five different value levels of kits, which lets the consumer choose not only the cost per bottle of their batch, but also the ageing curve: value-priced kits drink well relatively young but do not offer significant long-term ageing potential, while higher-end kits are less rewarding to drink immediately, but reward ageing with higher quality.
Because we source raw materials from wine regions all over the globe, we can offer French, California, Chilean, South African, Australian, etc, versions of the same varietal (i.e., the customer can choose between a muscular, fruit-forward Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, or the leaner, more elegant and structured French Cabernet) or even single-vineyard designated wines, such as Stag’s Leap Vineyard Napa Valley Merlot.
Outside of the ability to choose from over 70 different products in our line, the customer is able to choose a wide variety of packaging options, bottles come in different size, shape and color variations, there are thousands of pre-printed labels available, as well as partially printed stock labels that allow for either in-store overprinting of custom images and text, or at-home use. Bottles and labels are complimented by matching (or contrasting) capsules to finish the look of the package. This integrates a personalization element into our customization effort."</BLOCKQUOTE>
Edited by: masta 
