Fontana French Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit Ingredients - 6 Gallon DIY Kit - Makes 30 Bottles of Wine

Delicious and easy to follow instructions! Hope the prices don't go up with the tariffs in the future cause I want to order again!

For the price, this kit is actually really good. I bottled at about 63 days from fermentation, and the wine came out smooth and semi-sweet with a nice dry feeling on the palate. I typically prefer a puckeringly dry wine—this isn’t quite that, but it’s close enough that I really enjoy it. I ordered some three-liter bags for the first time and ended up with five bags plus eight 750 ml bottles. The instructions were okay. I’ve made wine before, so I managed, but they could definitely be clearer since the packets weren’t labeled by number. Luckily, I learned how to read words, so it all worked out. :) Would buy again.

This is the third time I've purchased this kit. I get compliments from many people on this cab. 13% ABV on the nose, as advertised. If others get less than that, then I suspect either they have substandard fermenting conditions or the yeast wasn't sufficiently activated. I've been home brewing for over 10 years and I don't remember ever having fermentation problems or experiencing significantly lower than expected ABV. The quality of this wine is great. Fruity with just the right amount of tart and dryness. It could use slightly more tannins, but I like my wine more grippy. It is however sufficient to pair with proteins like red meats and pork. Lovely nose of black currant and cherry, violet, honeysuckle and cedar. The cedar was a little bit surprising until I learned that a cedar aroma is common in full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon single varietal and blended wines, such as those of Napa Valley or Bordeaux — particularly the Left Bank appellations. TL;DR: Buy this kit.

Have had other kits from Fontana that were also low SG to start. Those were Pinot Noirs and I added 4 cups of simple syrup to get their starting SG to 1.07. I added 3 cups of syrup to this Chardonnay to get to 1.08. I only added the starting level of water to 5 gallons, not the 6 as directed. We like a dry finish so not everyone needs to do this. Wanted to pass along our experience. If you like a sweeter wine, this will be a great kit out of the box.

I recently purchased this wine kit and it exceeded all my expectations. As a novice winemaker (had only brewed beer before), I found the kit incredibly easy to use. Each batch yielded around 28ish bottles of delicious wine, which was a pleasant surprise. To ensure we weren't just biased by our own efforts, we had friends taste the wine. The consensus was unanimous - it was delightful! The true testament to its quality came when we decided to use the wine for our wedding. We made six batches, serving them at our special day and also giving them away as gifts to our guests. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone loved it! This kit not only provided us with great wine but also added a personal touch to our wedding. Highly recommend for anyone looking to create their own wine at home.

Update: Just enjoyed my first bottle of Fontana French Cabernet. Started fermentation on 6/26. Its approx. 4 months since fermentation was completed. Approx. 2 months bottled. I went with 5 gallons not 6. I didnt need to add sugar or adjust anything. This was a replacement kit since the first one was bad I believe (prune smell and too brownish in color). The company sent a new kit for free. Followed the instructions and added more French and American Oak chips after fermentation. I did degas it well with power tool and mixer. The nose is EXCELLENT! Caramel, oak, butterscotch almost. Good legs and color. Taste is smooth with a mellow finish, not tart. Leather, Oak, Caramel, vanilla hints. My wife said almost sweet but I didnt get that - I dont like sweet wines. This is a solid $20++ bottle. Love the nose!! At $4 per bottle its a no brainer. I followed instructions and didnt modify other than additional French and American Oak. Ferm. temp was about 72-75f. Bottle temp was 58f.

Instructions are good. I bought this kit based on the outstanding results I got from a 23 Shiraz that was out of this world. It wasn’t just me. Several others agreed that this Zin is passable and pleasant but on a scale of 1-10 maybe a 6.5. It is turning out to be a cooking wine mostly as I don’t want to sully my reputation on making delicious homemade wine.

I followed directions, it comes a little low in OG for reds; I was hoping for 12.5~13.5%. I used a wide mouth 6 Gallon to start. I'd recommend getting everything ready to ferment and then add the last ~1/2 Gallon of water so you shy on the side of stronger concentration if you want it 12.5%+. I followed all steps as indicated; they were clear and thorough. It went dry to .096 as expected and preliminary tasting is quite good. For now I am just doing ~monthly racks to clear all sediment before final tasting to decide if I should amend anything. Already great taste. I will do another one of theirs without hesitation. Expect to set aside for ~6 months at minimum to achieve proper results.

Easy to make and great tasting! Good value!

The wine was done in 4 weeks and tasted pretty good. The kit needs a fermenter which I also purchased from Amazon. The only con was the colour was a dark yellow, which made it look unappealing. That could have been something that I did wrong.

Follow the instructions and it makes good wine for a good price. No complaints and would buy again

Tastes fine. Guests seem to appreciate it as much as other store-bought and homemade pinot grigio.

We have been purchasing this wine making kit for a number of years now. The kit comes with the grape juice, a package of chemicals and yeast for the fermentation and finishing process along with a package of oak chips to add in the oak flavour to the completed wine product. For some reason the wine kit delivered today, December 18, 2015, was short the wood chips, would like to know is has this kit changed or was the package of oak chips missed when the order was shipped and what will this do to the wine flavour? Thanks Lori Sanders