Wine Making

Welcome to the world of home wine making - we know that you're going to love it as much as we do! There are three main ways to make your own homemade wine: Wine Concentrate Kits, from Juice, or Fresh Fruit.

1) Wine Kits:
Wine kits are the easiest and fastest way to get started making wine at home. If you've never made wine before we recommend starting with a wine kit. The juice comes in a concentrated form, which you re-constitute, and the winemaking follows a very simple process outlined in the detailed instructions included with each kit. The wine is usually bottled after 4-8 weeks. Wine kits require the smallest investment in equipment and starting materials. They produce consistent high quality wines that will compete with your favorite commercial brand. Plus, kits will guarantee your first batch turns out tasting delicious!

2) Juice:
In the Spring and Fall fresh Grape juices are available. The spring juices are pressed in Ohio from grapes imported from Chile. The fall juices are pressed in Ohio from grapes shipped from California and imported from Italy. We proudly partner with the Luva Bella Juice company to bring juices to our local area twice a year. Making wine from fresh grape juice follows a process similar to a wine kit, but must be monitored more closely by the winemaker.

Fresh, Bottled and Frozen fruit juices can also be used to make Country Wines (wines made from fruit other than grapes). When learning to make country wines we recommend starting with one gallon test batches. If you are purchasing juice be sure it does not have Potassium Sorbate listed in the ingredients. Your juice will not ferment if sorbate - a yeast inhibiting ingredient - is present.

3) Fresh Fruit:
Making wine from Fresh Fruit is the closest that a home winemaker can get to doing it the way that they do in commercial wineries. This method is the most involved way to get started, requiring a more substantial investment in equipment and requiring you to source the fruit itself. It also offers the most opportunity for mistakes, which can be discouraging for a beginner. Crafted Bottler's mission is to create new, successful winemakers. We carry all the consumables in larger sizes that a fresh fruit winemaker will need. At this time we do not carry the larger equipment needed for batches of fresh fruit to produce over 20 gallons of wine.