Suppliers of sterile must

Where you live, forget about pails and go with fresh fruit. If you want to buy from your local store who buys for you and then presses it for you, that is fine, but, especially with reds, fresh fruit will give you much higher quality than kits or pails.

The price for the fruit is, or should be dictated by the quality of the fruit from the source. You are in a good are and should be able to get the best. It will not be cheap but it should be the best. What goes into kits and pails will be mediocre to good quality fruit that they can get at reasonable prices. They then improve them by decent blending to bring out quality and they do a reasonable job. I do not put them down. I don't live in a great grape growing area so they are fine for me. Still I order grapes and have them shipped in and get better wine when I do. If I lived in your area I would be making friends with the growers and buying direct I guarantee.

Ray

instrumentation

Ray has pretty much covered it, you're pretty lucky being where you are! One thing I'd add is try to find a winemaking club or home winemakers around your area. There must be tons of people doing this for years - you'll get help, good advice, and access to sources and equipment. It's the best way to make the switch from kits to grapes.

Pp

I would agree with all you have been told. As an FYI most of the juice from California sold in pails is very inexpensive, on the order of 30 to $40 US per 6 gallon pail after shipping across the country. It comes from the hot Central Valley which is really not the best place to grow grapes, you live in a very good area.

You can get into making wine from grapes pretty cheaply, but it is hard to make good wine without either a very knowledgable mentor or test equipment. Both are easy to come by. You can rent the expensive part like a press for next to nothing, measurements are pretty easy too. Wine makes itself, to make good wine you just need a little guidance, no matter what you start with.

Joe

pp wrote:

myself

Yea, make from fresh. You'll be able to do more with the wine and get a tastier outcome. I used to live in San Luis Obispo county and they had a local wine/vineyard website. I found grapes via this. Also, the local homebrew shop had postings of where to find grapes.

You don't have to spend a lot to go this extra step. Usually the vineyard knows the particulars like SG and TA and the process of crushing traditionally involves feet. Careful though, this can be messy but also a lot of fun.

Chris

I agree with everyone that going with fresh fruit is best. But for the record, Mosto Italiano whites are good sterile juice kits, however, avoid Home Wine juice. IMHO.

Both of these are available near you, which I know since I used to live in the area. In fact I'm almost willing to bet you that I know your wine-supply store... You can be cheaper by buying the grapes and paying the sweat to make the must yourself, but buying the juice fresh isn't a bad option if you'd rather pay $.

For whites, the best sterile juice kits I have found are Welch's frozen Niagara concentrate from the grocery store. Cheap too! ;o) Ray