Crafting Your Own Wine is Creative, Fun & Easy.

Start with a good quality wine kit.

First you need to get a good quality winemaking ingredient kit. Beginners have a tendency to start with the least expensive wine kit with the rational being that if they spoil it they've wasted less money. This is a big mistake. If you start with a cheap or bargain basement wine kit your chances of failure increase ten-fold. Bargain wine kits are typically made from cheap materials or are from old stock that is past its shelf life. Don't go this route or you may be turned off from winemaking forever. Choose wine kits made by the big-name manufacturers like RJS Craft Winemaking and Winexpert. Check the manufactured dates and buy from a reputable dealer. This is the best advice we can give you if you want your first wine to be a success.

We offer the full line of RJS Craft Winemaking and Winexpert wine kits.

Use the proper equipment.

Make sure you use new food-quality equipment. Don't try to save money by using old plastic buckets, siphons, etc. We recommend new equipment because old plastic containers, spoons and hoses can have scratches or may have odours and stains from previous use. Scratches can contain spoilage bacteria while odours can be transferred to your wine leaving it undrinkable. It's false economy and a waste of your time if you have to pour a batch of wine down the drain. Stainless steel or glass containers and utensils are an exception and can be safely used if properly cleaned and sanitized.

In most cases it's best to purchase an equipment starter kit. These kits contain all the equipment recommended for making high-quality wine and are usually sold at a discounted package price as compared to buying the individual pieces.

Take a look at our equipment starter kits.

You'll want a clean and tidy environment to work in.

it's important that you work in a clean and sanitary environment. If you want to avoid accidents and mistakes make sure your work area is tidy and uncluttered.

Winemaking is essentially food preparation so use common-sense. Prepare the area as if you were getting ready to cook.

You don't need a large area to work in however access to hot and cold water is essential. Most people use their kitchen or laundry room. You will also need a warm area with a fairly constant temperature of 20 - 25 Celsius for the fermentation to take place. If this is not possible in the room you wish to use then you can purchase heating belts and wraps for your fermenting vessel that will keep the temperature constant.