I think they market only to those 'on the fence' who are thinking about making wine. It comes with primary femerter, the bottles, labels and all the other stuff. I guess if you extrapolate the cost of the equipment and allocate the remaining cost to just the juice and chemicals, it's probably comparable to mediocre wine kits. Although I agree with you, it's expensive. My wife is starting to get on me about the amount of filled carboys in the bulk aging process and others that are in process. I figure I could hide a 6 bottle making kit without too much effort! And no, she does NOT need to know how much I spent.