Wine Lovers Wine Making Kit (Merlot)

I bought this kit when it was on sale to use for a couple experimental projects. I made a 1 gallon batch of port wine and a 5 gallon batch of semi-dry Merlot. In both cases I added Welch's concentrate, oak chips, shaved chocolate and homemade flavor packs from blueberries and raspberries. I can honestly say that both the port and the Merlot came out well beyond expectations. The wine was bulk aged for about 8 months and just went into the bottle this past weekend. I am anxious to see what a few more months of aging brings out.This is not a high volume, top end kit by any means. The juice bag is small and it's not true varietal must. However, at this price point it certainly has the potential to create a nice, economical batch of wine that you would be proud to share with your friends. With a few tweaks and scaling it back to a 5 gallon batch you can make a real winner. I would buy again.

I was surprised how little juice was in this kit, less than the Fontana Premium, but we'll see. Also, it states that it's 'Merlot Style' so who knows how much actual merlot, if any, is in it... Just mixed this up and set for primary fermentation. Dirt cheap, came in 2 days, so no complaints, but I think given the smaller amount of juice than the Fontana Premium kits, and the fact it says 'Merlot style' instead of 'Merlot', for 2 dollars difference I would recommend the Fontana Premium line, as I've always, after a little doctoring like adding an extra cup of sugar, a pinch of acid blend, and three pinches of tannin, I've been very, very, happy with them for our every-night wine.

This kit had more going for it than any other kit I have purchased to date. The documentation was excellent. The ingredient bag had everything you need, and it came with a few extras that are icing on the cake in my opinion. It has labels for your bottles when you are finished, and it has a log bag that will help me when I put this one in my Ferm Log. Good notes are what separate an amateur from a home enthusiast. I just started fermentation on the 27th of May 2018 and will let you know if the wine tastes as great as I believe it will.

the wine has turned out great. it fermented much faster than expected and stalled after about a week. i contacted the support email and received the advice i needed to get it going again. this is my first kit but i've been making homemade fruit wine for almost two years and i'll definitely be ordering from this company again. very friendly and helpful when i had an issue. i am not paid or compensated for this review and i am doing this of my own free will. (i usually wonder about that when i read reviews like this so....). i would, without delay recommend this to a friend.

I've made many Merlot's from kits and must say this one was a surprise. For the price you can't go wrong. This wine came out well balanced with great bodied and smooth. Below is my progress.Wine Lovers Merlot 4 week - 12.5% 11/10/16Primary - Q00669L07:18/Q011417 11/10/16SG-1082 - 23ltr - Ss Brew Bucket 11/10/16Blanched 8oz. Elderberry in muslim bag and added to must 11/14/16SG-.992 11/20/16SG-.990 / 12.5% 12/04/16Degas and added clarifying and stabilizers 12/04/16Added 1/2 heavy oak spiral 12/08/16Racked to 5gal and topped up. 12/22/16Added 4oz wine conditioner - 1/4 tsp metasulfite 01/31/17Bottled 26 01/31/17

I used one and half a kit for 6 gallons,(3 kits 12 gallons) added champagne yeast and the wine tasted fantastic. lightly sweet almost the same as Cup Cake Red which sells for about 13$ a bottle. Amazingly this was at 6 months when most most wine is barely drinkable. I can hardly wait another year or two. However I recently ordered 3 m… see more

I think this is a 5 Gallon Kit. The side of the box Says it makes 23 liters or 5 gallons......... 5 Gallons is 18.47 liters.6 gallons is 22.71 liters. I didn't see this unlit i saw the SG was only at 1.040 when it should be 1.070-1.080.I fixed it by adding sugar to get it to 1.080. I hope it taste good when its all said and done.Still a very cheap kit so i may still buy again if it taste good.

The wine is just finishing up, I am ready to bottle, and then allow it to age, maybe 6 months or so and then try it.