17 replies to this topic

[saramc]

I was wondering if anyone has bought any of the wine concentrates available from Home Winery Supply Company, http://www.homewiner...-bin/concen.cgi?

They offer some interesting flavors such as watermelon, passion fruit, pineapple and common grape cultivars. Wonder if these are 100% fruit concentrates. And 64oz concentrate will yield a five gallon batch of finished wine. Hmmmmm.

[dralarms]

Yes, one of the owners is a neighbor of mine. They are nice guys.

[saramc]

He lives in TN and owns a company in MI.....I would hate that commute.

[dralarms]

Lol.

He only live here in the winter.

[guscampag]

I have used Home Winery Supply many times as it is just a short drive up the road from my home. These concentrates really are not bad - probably along the lines of an inexpensive kit wine. They are pretty concentrated, for sure. They won't make a hundred dollar bottle of wine. At least I don't think so, but I've never really tasted a hundred dollar bottle of wine so I guess I really couldn't say for sure. I don't think you really get the varietal characteristics you might get with a high dollar kit. But as I said, they aren't bad and very inexpensive. I never get any complaints about the wine. The shipping is not very expensive either since they don't weight much and they just charge the actual shipping charges. I have actually even had some shipped when I didn't have time to get up there and it's only about 40 miles from home.

[saramc]

Thanks....I may order some just to see what I think. Interesting.

[dralarms]

I have made their strawberry, it was good even though I screwed it up.

[djl Michigan]

I live about 30 miles from them. I have made 3 or 4 batches from their blackberry concentrate and it turned out to be my families favorite. Follow thier setup sheet and let it age for at least 2 years.

[saramc]

Good to know everyone...thank you.

[dralarms]

My neighbor is back up there and won't be back here till late August, just enough time to decide which juice I want him to bring me back. Lol

[toddrod]

Afriend of mine has done the Elderberry, Apple and Pear and they Elderberry is by far the best.

[Loren L.]

My husband bought me the watermelon concentrate as a gift. We live in CA, so it shipped a long way. I thought to myself, why buy me watermelon when he could have bought Zin or Cab? Anyway, not wanting to hurt his feelings, I made it. I started in a 5 gal carboy with 4 gal water to make sure it wasn't too diluted and to leave room for the foam. Added sugar to OG 1.108 and pretty much followed their directions. When it was at 1.009 I transferred into a secondary 5 gal carboy and topped up with 32 oz. 100% watermelon juice from our local health food store and the rest water. It continued to bubble softly under airlock for about a month. When it stopped bubbling and started to clear I racked and added about 3 Tsp. of the acid pack they included with the concentrate, after about another month I fined with Bent and degassed. Then after another month I racked and filtered with the Vinebrite filter (two pads). OMG it was amazing. It's the most incredible wine I've ever tasted. I'm not lying. I couldn't believe it so I had my Mom (white wine drinker) taste some leftovers from bottling; and she absolutely loved it, and it hasn't even aged. My husband is a genius. To me it's worth more than $100 a bottle (and I have 24 of them bottles). Maybe I got lucky and the wine gods were with me, but I can certainly give you the thumbs up on this one. (I haven't done any of the other flavors) See photo of finished product.
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[Lindsey S]

The watermelon certainly looks pretty! I like almost everything watermelon, but the only wine I've tried was a honey wine, and I did not care for it. This one sounds quite tasty!

[Loren L.]

It's amazing how this wine blasts you with a big noise full of fresh watermelon, drinks like a dry rose, then finishes with more watermelon. It finished at .995 and I didn't sweeten; it was already so flavorful. So you really need to like watermelon to enjoy it. I recommend chilling it and pairing it with anything spicy like Mexican or Asian food.

[saramc]

The watermelon is what got me interested in them!!