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The Basement Winery - Kit Wines |
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Written by Petra Spiess
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Wednesday, 08 August 2007 |
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Page 1 of 3 Making your own wine is one way to outdo Martha Stewart.
Pour someone a glass of fine looking wine, then right before they are about to take a sip, tell them you made it—invariably there will a hesitation (the length of which depends on the default courtesy of the guest)—followed by questions. People are leery of homemade alcohol, usually for good reason—it’s frequently awful. But making alcohol at home has come a long way since the moonshine days; it’s now easy to make elegant wines in your own basement for a fraction of their retail cost. Home winemaking is a fun way to fill up a wine cellar, to make gifts for friends and family, and to put a personal stamp on entertaining.
“Most of my customers make their own wine as a hobby. It is fun, easy, and the end product is very good. It is fun for them to share with friends and family, and it also is much cheaper then buying wine. You can make a very good wine for about $3 a bottle”, comments Kevin DeLange, owner of The Brew Hut in Aurora, Colorado whose store and website is an excellent resource for the home enologist. Richard T. Berkey, co-owner of Stomp Them Grapes in Denver, a store which specializes in supplies and equipment for home winemaking, expands upon its appeal,
“Fermentation is fascinating, akin to preparing fine cuisine or baking. You create complex and flavorful concoctions from naturally-occurring, raw materials”.
There are two main ways of making wine at home, one considerably easier than the other, making wine from a kit, and making wine from fresh or frozen grapes.
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