How to Make Wine From Juice Concentrate

We have over 100 varieties of international and domestic award-winning premium juice concentrate kits for winemaking, developed by Winexpert, Inc. Our experienced winemakers will guide you in personalizing your own handcrafted wine, suited to your taste.

It’s easy to get started. Simply choose a wine from our wine list and make a Personalized Winemaking appointment. You can also watch our live WineCam or learn more about how the Personalized Winemaking process works here at Lakeland Winery.

You can schedule your own private group party, join in with other wine enthusiasts, or have a personal one-on-one winemaking session. You’re sure to have fun and meet others who enjoy personalizing their own wine at our winery.

Here are the basic steps of how to make wine from juice concentrate kits:

Step 1: Starting the Process — First Week

Pour an inch or two of hot water into the primary fermenting bucket. Stir the water and slowly add bentonite. This helps to clarify the water throughout the wine making process. Then, add juice from your wine concentrate kit into the fermenter. Stir in elderflowers or oak if your kit has them. Using cool water, top off the fermenter making exactly six gallons, and stir. Finally, sprinkle on yeast; cover; insert the airlock and set aside in the fermenting area to brew for one week.

Step 2: Racking — Second Week

After placing the primary fermenter on top of a table, transfer (“rack”) the wine into a glass carboy using a siphon, leaving the sediment behind. To keep out airborne contaminants, reattach the airlock, then return the carboy to the fermenting area to continue brewing for another week.

Step 3: Stabilizing — Third Week

Before stopping the fermentation process, the specific gravity is checked with a hydrometer to assure complete fermentation. Add potassium metabisulfate and potassium sorbate to the carboy and stir vigorously. These ingredients will help sterilize and protect against re-fermentation after bottling. Add a natural fining agent to settle the “must”. If desired, top off the carboy with cool water to make 6 gallons; stir, and reattach the airlock.

Step 4: Bottling & Labeling — Seventh Week

Allow 4 weeks for the grape particles and ingredients to settle, leaving the wine almost crystal clear. To completely polish the wine clarity, the wine is filtered before bottling. Using our automatic bottle filler, the wine is transferred into bottles, leaving enough room for the cork. Finally, with our floor mounted bottle corker, bottles are corked and their appearance dressed up with professionally designed labels and caps. Bottles are left upright for two days to allow air pressure to be released and the cork to fully seat. When you bring your wine home, lay the bottles on their side in a cool room (approximately 50-60 degrees) for the final aging process (at least 3 months for whites and 6 months for reds).

Step 5: Drinking!

Some wines, like the Island Mist fruit flavor wines will taste fine right away, but most wine will benefit greatly from some aging. Typically, red wines require 6-12 months, and white wines require 3-6 months of aging to perfection.

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