Hello all. I live in Iowa and am a huge fan of wine, beer, and spirits. After a recent trip to Napa my wife and I have decided that we'd like to start making wine (I know, stop me if you've heard this one before...).
Here's the million dollar question: how good can it be? I hear people tell me that you can make kit wine just as good as a $70 bottle of Cab but I have a hard time believing that. Given everything that goes into a great wine I just have a hard time believing that a kit can turn out as good as an oak barrel aged Napa Valley Cabernet. I could see it maybe if a person actually started with the right grapes but juice from a kit? I have my doubts. On top of that - and I mean no offense to anyone - but it seems the people who tell me it's so good are also people making a ton of fruit wines like apple, rhubarb, and cherry. Those things taste like wine coolers to me so I have trouble taking those folks seriously when they tell me that I can make quality wine from a kit. I simply have to wonder if we have different definitions of "quality".
Are any of you folks really into the higher class chards or cabs and making similar wines at home? If so, how do you do it? I'm honestly using price as a guideline for what "class" I'm talking about simply because I have definitely noticed an increase in quality along with the increase in price, at least most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I like my average Robert Mondavi $9 Cabernet for an every day wine but if that's all I wanted to drink I'd just go to the store and buy it. I want to make something really special.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Here's the million dollar question: how good can it be? I hear people tell me that you can make kit wine just as good as a $70 bottle of Cab but I have a hard time believing that. Given everything that goes into a great wine I just have a hard time believing that a kit can turn out as good as an oak barrel aged Napa Valley Cabernet. I could see it maybe if a person actually started with the right grapes but juice from a kit? I have my doubts. On top of that - and I mean no offense to anyone - but it seems the people who tell me it's so good are also people making a ton of fruit wines like apple, rhubarb, and cherry. Those things taste like wine coolers to me so I have trouble taking those folks seriously when they tell me that I can make quality wine from a kit. I simply have to wonder if we have different definitions of "quality".
Are any of you folks really into the higher class chards or cabs and making similar wines at home? If so, how do you do it? I'm honestly using price as a guideline for what "class" I'm talking about simply because I have definitely noticed an increase in quality along with the increase in price, at least most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I like my average Robert Mondavi $9 Cabernet for an every day wine but if that's all I wanted to drink I'd just go to the store and buy it. I want to make something really special.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!