I’ve got a winemaking kit for Christmas with all the instructions. Just set it up and put it in the airing cupboard. Should be interesting to see how it turns out 
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If it turns out anything like the stuff my dad used to make, it will be strong enough to power a rocket to the moon.
I remember some that he had bottled and it started to ferment again in the bottle. We were all ducking for cover as the corks started shooting out of the bottles.
Lib i make my own wine and beer and have been doing for about a year or so not an expert but i have a little bit of experiance.
The number one rule is sterilisation everything must be spotless, and make sure its at the right temperature follow the instructions to the letter dont believe in that old myth more sugar makes it more alcoholic all it will do is make your wine sweeter.
Have you got a hydrometer?, if not get one its an absolute neccessity (SP?) , i have about 8 gallons on the go at the minute but due to a recent trip to France i havent had the chance to drink any of it so its maturing real nice.
If you have any problems you can go here and ask questions
http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/cgi/yabb/YaBB.cgi
they are a really friendly bunch of people and will help you as much as they can.
The best wine i done was 13 % and quite a nice drop needless to say there isnt any left 
:), i done a cider once at the same alcohol level gave my mate the postman a bottle and he had 2 days off work after drinking it not splattery botty but the worst hangover hes ever had!!!, ask david5il about it he had some and enjoyed it but didnt get the hangover.
I had a friend who once tried making his own wine. We live in an area where some of the best reislings outside of Germany are grown, so this is a popular hobby around here.
Anyways, my friend ended up after everything spending about $12 for every bottle made, but the stuff tasted like $3/bottle wine. What’s the point??
Sorry, but I just can’t see the point. I’m a bit of a wine snob, having a fairly extensive cellar filled with all sorts of good wines (several cases of 2000 clarets, 15+ year old red burgundys, a couple good montrachets, and lots of good local wines as well), and I’ve yet to tast anybody’s homemade wine that didn’t taste like dog urine. All my frinds know about my knowlege of wines and keep bringing me the cr@p they brew in their closets. Ugh!
Alex, my old friend You have an extensive wine cellar 
Errrrrrrrr … Just how near are you to me
The trouble with homebrew is that you have to wait for it 
It is one thing that Superbugs and Morrisons have done properly, Wine for the masses 
I am on a testing mission for some nice St Emillion I got last week 
It seems ok, The first 2 bottles went down quite well but this one is perfect
Pat Hasler:
Alex, my old friendErrrrrrrrr … Just how near are you to me
Yes, I have probably about 150 bottles total, but only a couple full cases. When we moved into the new house last september, the first thing I did was to insulate the walls of my new wine cellar with foil-backed foam.
I’m about 200 miles west of you.
I’ve been finding a lot of good deals lately on quality Spanish wines and even some good South African wines. I have a friend at the local wine importer/retailer, and she keeps me appraised on the latest purchases. They often have really good deals on vintage burgundies from grand cru wines labelled under generic labels. Seems that a grand cru is limited on how many bottles may carry the vineyard’s label, so the rest are stored in a negociant’s cellar until it can be sold as a lot to an importer (but not in Europe, due to these laws). I’ve been able to buy bottles of ,89 Conti-Romonee, '89 Clos de Veugeot and even '92 Chassagne Montrachet for $22-25/bottle. They even had some '69 Conti last year for $31, but it ran out fast.
If you like reislings, check out Hermann J.Weimer and Dr. Konstantin Frank wineries down in the finger lakes-they make some world-class wines there-much better than the plonk made in most of the other wineries around…
Pat Hasler:
Alex, my old friendErrrrrrrrr … Just how near are you to me
Pat! seems like you just put a similarly worded post on here about my supply of Tetley Teabags 
…now your after blagging some of his wine! …some people! 
Here Cliff… If I mention to happening to have a box of English Tetleys… you think he’d be trying to get a load to Winnipeg?
AlexxInNY:
I had a friend who once tried making his own wine. We live in an area where some of the best reislings outside of Germany are grown, so this is a popular hobby around here.Anyways, my friend ended up after everything spending about $12 for every bottle made, but the stuff tasted like $3/bottle wine. What’s the point??
Sorry, but I just can’t see the point. I’m a bit of a wine snob, having a fairly extensive cellar filled with all sorts of good wines (several cases of 2000 clarets, 15+ year old red burgundys, a couple good montrachets, and lots of good local wines as well), and I’ve yet to tast anybody’s homemade wine that didn’t taste like dog urine. All my frinds know about my knowlege of wines and keep bringing me the cr@p they brew in their closets. Ugh!
Like I say, I got it for Christmas Alexx, but it’ll be interesting to see how it’s made (on a small scale at least), if it doesn’t taste so good, then I’ll bin it and start all over again (it’s not fermenting properly yet ), but it’ll be nice to drink my own brew in the end. Allright, I could never hope to get it as good as the winemakers who’ve been going for years and have it down to a fine art, but I’ll have fun trying and getting everyone else bladdered with it when I’ve made it and that’s the point. If I get it half as good as the Australian Merlot I had the other day, I’ll be quite happy .
Well, if it doesn’t turn out too well, you could always put in in a still and make brandy out of it. That’s how the French get rid of bad wine, you know…
AlexxInNY:
Well, if it doesn’t turn out too well, you could always put in in a still and make brandy out of it. That’s how the French get rid of bad wine, you know…
Really?..I just ■■■■ it up the wall or, if it’s really bad then I talk to the big white telephone all night
Having had a quick scout around on the internet and started it off (it’s fermenting ok now ) is how much chemistry and chemicals are involved. Now where can I get a load of honycomb for some Meade?
Jammy said
The best wine i done was 13 % and quite a nice drop needless to say there isnt any left , i done a cider once at the same alcohol level gave my mate the postman a bottle and he had 2 days off work after drinking it not splattery botty but the worst hangover hes ever had!!!, ask david5il about it he had some and enjoyed it but didnt get the hangover.
nice cider only didnt get an hangover because the mrs and eldest kid had most of it whilst i was away for the week 
next time i’m going to leave an old yellow bottle in fridge for them 
I can vouch for jammys red wine, it tasted better than any shop bought red wine i ever had
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Me Mum and Dad used to make a splendid brew out of blackberries. Dark, almost ‘syruppy’ it tasted like liquid warmth and fruit (sigh)
My Dads hobby was wine making. He kept meticulous notes on whatever he was doing.
Some of the early ones where a bit dodgy, but not all of them. After a couple of years, there wasn’t a bad one at all.
It was sort of a family hobby, my Dad being the brewer, the rest of us where tasters . We also did our share of the labour, like picking the fruit or flowers. Seperating the elderberries off the stalks was a long autumn evenings work. Getting stalk bits in any brew is a bad thing by the way, it gives the wine a bitter taste 
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I remember the elderberry wine was a glorious syrupy wine, with a loverly flavour. Elder flower was a nice light one. Dandylion flower was a real pain to seperate the petals. You get a bit of sap (or whatever it is) on your fingers and can’t get the petals to unstick off them. It took ages for the yellow colour to wash out of your fingers as well. But that was a nice wine too. Worth the effort at the final, drinking, stage. .
Alex, was that $12 a bottle for the first year? If you keep on going for a few years, your wines improve as your knowledge grows,and you only have to spend money on getting the kit now and again, once you get set up. The yeast strains are not expensive and if you pick your own fruit, from the wild, thats free apart from your labour. You will probably have to pay any helpers in wine, but thats part of the fun. Your friends or family coming round to sample the fruits of there labour.
I’ve just tried it as it’s finished fermenting (it’s got to clear yet) and it’s FANTASTIC
I’m probably going to upset some of the ‘conisseurs’ (sp) here now, but…
I always find the more expensive the champagne is, the worst it tastes!!
Likewise with red wine. Next door is a woman who ‘knows what she’s on about’ with red wine; well she does a few bottles of research nearly every night!! Anyway, one of her favourite red wines (and ours) is EastEnders own label, Dogs ■■■■■■■■. They have now started doing a bit of variety i.e. French, Australian, Californian etc and every time I cross the channel, I end up having to get huge re-supplies to bring back here, into Germany!
Liberace:
I’ve just tried it as it’s finished fermenting (it’s got to clear yet) and it’s FANTASTIC
Make sure you taste a little now and then Lib if its too dry you can adda little sugar if its too sweet TOUGH theres nothing you can do its been fermenting too long or you added too much sugar.
Whats the hydrometer reading?.
jammymutt:
Liberace:
I’ve just tried it as it’s finished fermenting (it’s got to clear yet) and it’s FANTASTICMake sure you taste a little now and then Lib if its too dry you can adda little sugar if its too sweet TOUGH theres nothing you can do its been fermenting too long or you added too much sugar.
Whats the hydrometer reading?.
I must admit, it’s er still in the post Jammy :shock:.