How do you make wine?

[Whispermatthes]

I am a beginner, this was the first year I made more then a few bottles. I made about 150 bottles of peach,plum and cherry wine. I choose those fruits because they were plentiful and free or very inexpensive. I paid .75 cents a pound for two varieties of cherries (and I love them) and got over a hundred pounds. I was given 4 boxes of peaches and harvested from my own two trees. Lastly I picked from my moms plum tree a couple boxes and intend on doing that every year as long as the trees bear fruit.
I'll make more this year since the wine is already just about gone. It was so good we all loved it!

 

[boppy1]

My vote was for "Other" since I purchase refrigerated 6 gallon buckets of juice, not kits, from various countries through a local winery.

 

[Kayts]

I started out using the unusual fruits of the season..Rhubarb..Pin Cherry..Rasberry..Apple..and now have made Merlot...learning more as I go on how to do it right...my extended family is enjoying it...and have more of grape wine going now...

 

[portveyn]

Frozen apple juice. Store brand. 16% alc!

 

[ChateauDeAnne]

I have made many fruit wines (plum , feijoa, kiwifruit and strawberry wine) for a number of years now. It is cheap and plentiful when in season and never had a failed one using these fruits. Had to put a number of others through the still as they were not drinkable (peach, melon, banana)

 

[Jackssailor]

I use mainly fresh fruits that I freeze. I also do maybe 3-4 kits a year. Recently started doing tea wines also.

 

[marquettematt]

I do fresh grapes and juice buckets. Since I'm prone to making reds, I wish I could find must rather than just juice

 

[topper9520]

winemaking technique

I use only fresh grapes but am not against using fresh juice if the juice is coming from Italy and I am trying to perfect a certain Italian wine since we cannot get the grape from Italy I would consider using juice.

 

[jburtner]

I've done kits, fruit, and some juice buckets. Leaning towards frozen must/juice for future or grapes if I can get em.

Cheers!
-johann

 

[Rosa321]

I use blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries because I have them growing on my property and it makes the wine cheap!

 

[pdq250]

I grow five verities (over 500 vines) and make wine from them. Four red and one white. I live in Paso Robles CA.

 

[wildhair]

I use fresh fruit in season, but I also have fresh grapes and I freeze fruit to use later in the fall/winter. So............. ??

 

[rustbucket]

I've decided to stick with making wine kits. My forays into juice bucket wine making has not met with the success that I had hoped it would; whereas, most of my kit wines have produced wines that match the style advertised on the box. Skeeter pee and dragon blood this spring may be the exception to that resolve.

 

[Simpsini]

kits. Their easy and the product is very good. They make good wine with little fuss

 

[RobGlug]

Fruit wines, flower wines, vine prunings wine... My determinator is what I have growing in my garden. Pea pod wine, rhubarb, raspberry, elderlower.

 

[Hoxviii]

Fresh fruit - not grapes.

There are already plenty of fairly priced and good to drink grape wines on the market that it just isn't really worth it to make grape wine once you take the effort in to account, unless you're drinking a case a week in your household - then the bottle price could make sense.

There just isn't a wide enough assortment of truly enjoyable fruit wines out there; they tend to be over dry and thin or oversweet to the point of syrupy.

A nice, balanced, medium body elderberry is worth my time because I love the flavor, but hate how sweet and thick so many retail elderberry wines are. A raspberry that actually tastes like raspberries is worth my time.

 

[randicoot]

I pick and freeze local berries because that's what I have available. Blueberries, blackberries and black raspberries. Freezing for 2 reasons--to collect enough to make something and then make whenever, and to help release the juices.

Randy

 

[Boatboy24]

Kits, juice and fresh fruit.

I didn't vote because I could choose only one - I probably do all about equally.

 

[stevenfox25]

I generally Make mead so my selection was Honey. Orange Blossom is my go to Honey.

 

[Deamondad0]

Meads!!

So I voted Honey considering I make meads. Mostly Melomels. Since I make an unusual amount of melomels I would have to say I use a large amount of Frozen/Fresh Fruit as well, but alas the poll would only allow me to vote for one ingredient.