After a rather indulgent honeymoon in Italy, during which almost every meal was accompanied by a bottle of locally produced wine, I had intended to rid my face of its alcohol bloat and experience a couple of weeks of teetotalism. But my new husband had other ideas. Inspired by the endless Tuscan vineyards, and amidst reports that English vineyards were enjoying a bumper crop, he decided that we too should make our own wine. Recalling a friend's rather disastrous experiment with a home-brew beer kit, circa 2002, I predicted it would be more hassle than it was worth, and probably not taste very nice. But I was wrong. For one, you don't even have to go to the trouble of squishing your own grapes, let alone grow them - you can simply pop down to your local home-brew shop and purchase a wine kit, consisting of pre-measured concentrated grape juice, yeast and a few chemicals to help speed up the process. Of course, you do need some equipment, including Demijohns (large glass vats in which the wine is stored before it is bottled), air locks (for� the tops of the Demijohns), a cork machine, steralising liquid�and a fermenting bucket - but all of this is relatively inexpensive and can often be bought second-hand.
Our first attempt, a medium red, got mixed reviews - "Tastes like Ribena", one person said - but the second, which was made with a more expensive Merlot kit (�40 for 30 bottles) was a hit. Thrilled with our success, not to mention the prospect of a huge long-term financial saving, our house began its metamorphosis from regular semi-detached Victorian to fully-functioning winery.
A few months on and we have already made 150 bottles of wine.�On average the whole�process, from�fermentation to bottling, takes about�a month. You can drink the wine as soon as�it's bottled,�but�it does taste better with age. After mastering the red wine kit we set our sights on the popular, and even cheaper, Wurzel's Orange Wine (Wow for short) recipe. A white wine, it uses one part grape juice to one part orange juice (you can use anything though, even passion fruit juice!) meaning you get delicious, citrusy base notes coming through. Home-brewed ros� wine is equally palatable - sweet yet tangy - and for the cider drinkers among you, we found we could create a sumptuous apple fizz using a similar technique (although, reader, this is turning out to be more expensive venture, given that husband now wants his own apple press).
If�you think you might enjoy the satisfaction that comes with producing your own vintage, then Wow wine is a good place to start. A comprehensive guide, which includes a list of equipment you need to get started, can be found on this home-brew forum. At the equivalent of 35p a bottle, you can't go wrong.
Source: http://www.easyliving.co.uk/blog/news/09-2011/the-joys-of-homemade-wine
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