WINE MAKING CENTRAL
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  The Hobby of Home Winemaking
  Home winemaking is a very rewarding hobby. It has becoming more and more popular every year. The science and technology behind the winemaking kits are taking a once mysterious endeavor and simplifying it.  The kits of today are almost infallible if directions are followed. The ingredient kits such as Winexpert (Reds & Whites) contain everything you will need to make a wonderful  wine.  Wine kits are the perfect way to get your feet wet. But I'm sure after you have made a few kits you will probably want to make some  wine from scratch. When this becomes the case we carry all the additives you will need to make your fresh fruit wines.  You may even decide too try your own recipe or blending wines just to experiment.  I have had a blast doing some "off the wall" things.  Even though experimenting is fun many winemakers many times come back to the kits because of quality and convenience. Winemaking Kits come in a huge assortment. So you can be assured your taste buds will never be left wanting.
  If you are searching for a hobby please consider winemaking. Many wines can be made for less than $1.50  per 750 ml bottle or less. So you can save a bundle and have fun at the same time. We have plenty of GREAT kits to choose from made by the leaders in the wine kit industry. (Winexpert) & (US Elite).  All these kits come with easy to follow step by step instructions.  Feel free to browse our store and make your selection.
Again, thank you for choosing Harrington Press Co.
Cheers, 
Jim Harrington
Early history of Winemaking

Wine residue has been identified by Patrick McGovern's team at the University of Pennsylvania's University Museum, in ancient pottery jars. Records include ceramic jars from the Neolithic sites at Shulaveri, of present-day Georgia (about 6000 BC), Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of present-day Iran (5400-5000 BC), and from Late Uruk (3500-3100 BC) occupation at the site of Uruk, in Mesopotamia. The identifications are based on the identification of tartaric acid and tartrate salts using a form of infrared spectroscopy. These identifications are regarded with caution by some biochemists because of the risk of false positives, particularly where complex mixtures of organic materials, and degradation products, may be present. The identifications have not yet been replicated in other laboratories.

In his book Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), McGovern argues that the domestication of the Eurasian wine grape and winemaking could have originated on the territory of modern Georgia and spread south from there.


In Iran (Persia), mei (the Persian wine) has been a central theme of their poetry for more than a thousand years, although alcohol is strictly forbidden in Islam. Little is actually known of the prehistory of wine. It is plausible that early foragers and farmers made alcoholic beverages from wild fruits, including wild grapes (Vitis silvestris). This would have become easier following the development of pottery vessels in the later Neolithic of the Near East, about 9000 years ago. However, wild grapes are small and sour, and relatively rare at archaeological sites. It is unlikely they could have been the basis of a wine industry.

Domesticated grapes were abundant in the Near East from the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, starting in 3200 BC. There is also increasingly abundant evidence for wine making in Sumer and Egypt in the third millennium BC. The ancient Chinese made wine from native wild "mountain grapes" like Vitis thunbergii for a time, until they imported domesticated grape seeds from Central Asia in the second century BC. Grapes were, of course, also an important food. There is scant evidence for earlier domestication of grape, in the form of grape pips from Chalcolithic Tell Shuna in Jordan, but this evidence remains unpublished.

Exactly where wine was first made is still unclear. It could have been anywhere in the vast region, stretching from Portugal to Central Asia, where wild grapes grow. However, the first large-scale production of wine must have been in the region where grapes were first domesticated, Southern Caucasus and the Near East. Wild grapes grow in Georgia, northern Levant, coastal and southeastern Turkey, northern Iran or Armenia. None of these areas can, as yet, be definitively singled out, despite persistent suggestions that Georgia is the birthplace of wine.

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Below find a brief history of winemaking  provided by Wikipedia
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A few questions and Answers
Why don't you have free shipping anymore?
The answer is easy, No one has free shipping!  The companies that say they do are just adding the cost of shipping into the products. They want to make people believe they are getting a bargain. We know! At one time we tried including the cost of shipping into our products but soon found that the customers living closest to us "Peoria Illinois" were subsidizing the shipping for those living in places like California, Washington State, Texas and Florida. We believe by keeping our prices low and letting UPS  figure each order, we can serve you better.  We still get our share of customers living in the distant states so we must be doing something right!

What is the easiest way to make wine?
Wine juice kits are the easiest way to make wine. Most wine kits come complete with juice, additives and easy to follow instructions. All a person needs is the correct equipment such as the "Vintners Best Equipment Kit", 30 wine bottles and one of the numerous juice kits available on the market today. We happen to sell Winexpert. These kits are of the very highest quality and make 6 gallons of  very nice wine.
How long does it take to make a wine kit?
Most wine kits take 28-30 days from start to bottling day.. There are a few exceptions. The larger, high end kits may require an extra racking  (siphoning off of the sediment) which takes a little longer but is well worth the extra time. Check our Cool Stuff & Links page and watch Tim Vandergift explain the art of kit making.
How soon can I drink my wine?
You can drink some of the wine cooler type kits like Island Mist as soon as it's cleared and bottled. Most wine needs a little aging time. I prefer to let the white wine kits bottle age for 3-6 months and the reds 6-8 months.  If you are planning on aging your reds or any wine kit for over a year you should add extra sulfite to keep it from going to the dark side. Usually 1 extra campden tablet per 6 gallon kit.  Most wine kits are made to be consumed within a year. Besides, that's the whole idea right!
Why don't you carry a larger selection of wine kits?
The truth is that most companies that stock large quantities of wine kits have a hard time moving every variety. So what ends up happening is kit deterioration from sitting on the shelf. I guarantee they aren't the quality you deserve.  I can tell you this from buying kits myself, I have experienced this problem more than once. So with the economy the way it is, be very cautious of any company that is selling kits on special just to move them out. One year we destroyed over 35 wine kits that stayed on the shelf too long.  We stock the kits that our customers buy but anytime you would like to try a different variety that isn't on our site please let us know. We'll be happy to order it in fresh.
Is it hard to make wine from scratch?
No, there are a few steps you need to follow and additives you must add but it is relatively simple. People have made wine for thousands of years without any special equipment or any scientific gizmos. Although, the more a person learns about winemaking the more likely they are to reproduce a wine they have made and enjoyed before.  One of my favorite saying is: Its easy to make a great wine once but its hard to make a great wine twice.
Some of the additive I would recommend to have on hand for your first winemaking experience are: a good quality wine yeast, campden tablets, pectic enzyme, acid blend, tannin and yeast nutrient. You should also have few things from the grocery store like cane sugar and a few gallons of water that has no chlorine added. That's my preference. Some winemakers say it doesn't matter. I believe it does!
Why don't you sell beer kits anymore?
To be honest the passion for brewing beer isn't as high on my list as winemaking. So, I follow my heart. I do enjoy a good brew and take pleasure in discussing beer making but wine is what I know best. Besides, there are plenty of beer brewing shops/mail order companies out there. Realistically I was always a winemaking shop selling a few beer making items. Kinda like some of the beer making shops dabbling in wine making products. I do what I know and I'll leave the beer to the other experts, although I have made some mighty fine brews before and enjoyed several that my customers have brought me.
Coming soon Hungarian Oak Barrels!!!
I have read about K-T taste in wine. What is it?
  Oh boy!  I hate to bring it up. Its like planting a song in someone's head and they can't get it out. But, for those who keep humming the tune here goes.  K-T taste in wine kits comes from unfermentable sugars. "Mainly in Reds" This happens during processing / reduction of the juice into concentrate. I have heard some people describe it as a candied or carmel taste. Almost all kits have it to some degree. Do I think it makes the kits taste bad? No, I think it makes each kit / company unique to its own flavor. K-T in kits are mainly detected by long time commercial wine drinkers. But just for mention, most of these kits on the market have won medal after medal. You don't do that with a bad tasting wine. I have customers that make 25-30 kits a year and never complain about the taste, only how wonderful they are.  I might also add, US Elite has done a fabulous job in masking the K-T taste. They do this by using oaks at different times during  processing. You should give them a try!