Merlot Wine Kit, Forte

Overview

You are drawn to wines that feel composed, confident, and quietly powerful, wines that reward patience and attention rather than shouting for it. With the Merlot Wine Kit, Forte, you claim the role of a thoughtful home winemaker, someone who values restraint, balance, and authenticity. This is about crafting a wine that reflects your judgment and your taste, not simply producing bottles. Working with premium California grapes, you guide each stage of fermentation knowing the result will be something you are proud to pour, share, and stand behind. This is winemaking as a personal pursuit, where your home becomes the place refined red wine takes shape.

Flavor and Style
As fermentation unfolds under your care, this Merlot reveals a character built on depth and subtlety rather than excess. Ripe blackberry and dark cherry form the core, joined by hints of black licorice and dried plum. A gentle floral lift adds elegance, while earthy undertones and soft cocoa notes bring grounding complexity. The mouthfeel is smooth and expansive, with tannins that are present but polished, leading to a dry, composed finish that lingers without fatigue. This is a medium to full bodied Merlot with poise and confidence, the kind of wine that invites conversation rather than demands attention.

What Makes This Kit Different
This is the ultimate home winemaking experience because you work with raw grape concentrates and real grape skins, not shelf stable substitutes designed for storage rather than expression. Your fermentation includes 4 lbs of real grape skins along with exclusive grape seed packs, a feature unique to Finer Wine Kits. In traditional red winemaking, seeds are essential to building authentic tannin structure and phenolic balance. Fermenting with both skins and seeds creates greater texture, depth, and integration, allowing the wine to naturally support a finished alcohol level of 14 percent. This approach is why wines made with Finer Wine Kits move past the familiar kit taste associated with shelf stable brands and instead deliver the balance, mouthfeel, and realism of wine made from fresh grapes.

Designed for Confidence and Understanding
You do not need years of experience to succeed, but you will gain real understanding through the process. Developed by home winemakers like you, Finer Wine Kits convert hands on experience into a clear and dependable method. The instructions explain not only what to do, but why each step matters, helping you develop intuition and confidence rather than simply following directions. This makes the process deeply rewarding whether this is your first serious wine or a deliberate step toward more refined results.

Cold Stored, Direct to Your Door
This kit is a true agricultural product and cannot sit on a shelf. Because of its perishable nature, it is stored cold and shipped directly from freezer storage to your door, preserving freshness, aroma, and grape integrity. This direct to door model makes it possible to deliver ingredients at peak quality without distributor or wholesale markups, ensuring you receive exceptional value for a genuinely premium product.

The raw grape concentrate is vacuum evaporated at low temperatures to protect the grape’s intrinsic character and avoid the cooked flavors common in shelf stable kits. If you are not ready to begin immediately, the grape skins must be stored in your freezer, and the raw grape concentrates must be stored at 3 degrees F or colder. These storage requirements are essential to maintaining the quality that defines the finished wine.

Technical Details
• Finished alcohol: 14 percent ABV
• Yield: 28 to 30 bottles, 6 gallons
• Style: Medium to full bodied red wine
• Varietal: Merlot
• Character: Dry
• Region: Lodi, California
• Fermentation ingredients: Raw grape concentrate, 4 lbs of real grape skins, grape seed packs
• Storage requirements: Grape skins must be stored in the freezer, raw grape concentrates must be stored at 3 degrees F or colder
• Important notice: This kit is an agricultural product and must be fermented or cooked before being consumed

With the Merlot Wine Kit, Forte, you are not simply making wine at home. You are shaping a refined, expressive red that reflects patience, discernment, and a standard that rises well above expectations for what a wine kit can be.

Watch the video tutorials for additional instruction. You can view and download the complete instruction booklet here. Advanced users can now also download an abbreviated version of the instructions here. 

*This kit is an agricultural product and must be fermented or cooked before being consumed.

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