Compare Prices of Wine

Homemade vs. Store Bought Wine

The table below will give you an idea of the cost savings you will enjoy as a home winemaker.

For this example, we will compare the costs of 30 bottles of a commonly available Merlot wine (from a well-known California winery) with the same quantity of homemade wine (prices of wine kits as of 2/28/2002). We compare thirty bottles of wine because a typical wine kit will produce that many bottles.

As you can see, both wine kit examples (Vino del Vida and Cellar Classic) beat the retail cost hands down! And we didn't even figure in the sales tax.... which would have tipped the scale even further in favor of the home winemaker.

What about other costs of home winemaking?
There are certainly other costs to consider, of course, among them:

• The time it takes to make and bottle the wine
• The initial cost of the winemaking equipment
• The cost of corks and capsules or wax
• The effect of bottles "disappearing" to friends and neighbors

Let's address each of these issues in turn:

1. Actual time spent gathering/sanitizing equipment, mixing the juice, sprinkling yeast, testing/racking wine, and bottling and cleaning up will consume anywhere from 5 to 10 hours per winemaking kit, depending upon your level of expertise. All of this "work" is done in spurts over the course of a month or two, so it's not like you have to devote an entire day to your new hobby. In fact, most people enjoy their new hobby so much, the time seems to fly!
2. If you are new to winemaking, you'll need to purchase some basic winemaking equipment. The basic equipment (except corker, corks, and bottles) costs less than $50 (see item #1001), and can be used over and over again. What's more, the equipment will pay for itself with the first batch of wine you make (how's that for return on investment, eh?). Further, by recycling used wine bottles, you can save a lot over the cost of buying new bottles.
3. Since you can't reuse corks, you'll need to keep a supply on hand. Depending on the type of corks you purchase, the price could range anywhere from 12 cents to 26 cents apiece. Even if you buy the best corks available (Altec), you would expect to pay only $7.80 (or 30 X $0.26) per kit. Capsules and wax are optional items, so you don't have to buy them if you don't want to.
4. Once the word gets out that you make a "great bottle of wine", you're likely to experience the "pilfer" factor from your friends and neighbors - who seem to find any excuse to visit you and volunteer to sample your latest vintage. Most winemakers take this as a compliment, and you would still be saving money - even if you gave HALF your bottles away!

Yeah, but ... Doesn't homemade wine taste "funny"?
Our customers certainly don't think so... or else we wouldn't be in this business! In many respects, since you are in control of the fermentation process, YOUR wine will be AS GOOD or BETTER than store-bought wine. We guarantee it. You know, since he's learned how to make his own wine, Crazy Tom hasn't bought a drop of vino from a retail store - and the same thing will happen to you before long!

I'm still not convinced
Nothing can take the place of sampling our wines first hand, so we invite you to visit our retail store in Laurel Springs, NC and take a sip or two of some of the wines we've made. If you still don't believe a batch of wine made from one of our kits is comparable to any wine you can purchase anywhere...take a look at some of our customer testimonials.