Reviews you can trust

Honest reviews of the wine kits we've actually made.

We buy them, we ferment them, we taste them blind with friends, then we tell you the truth — including the cheap ones that surprised us and the expensive ones that didn't.

See the market overview Browse our reviews

How we review

Four rules we don't break. They're the reason a 3-star Russ rating means something.

We buy every kit ourselves

No samples, no sponsorships, no review copies. If a kit shows up in this section, we paid for it.

We ferment the whole cycle

Starting gravity to bottling day. We log SG numbers, clarity, off-smells — the boring data nobody else publishes.

We taste with friends, blind

Every kit is poured against at least one commercial bottle in the same style. Friends score it without knowing which is which.

We score against the kit's own promise

A $60 four-week kit isn't graded against an $200 Amarone. We grade each kit against what it claims to be.

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Wine course reviews — the confidential shortlist

We've evaluated 13 wine and winemaking courses. The 5 best paid ones, the 5 best free ones, and the 3 paid courses we tell you to skip (those last three live in your inbox, not on this page).

Browse the courses & request the shortlist →

Latest reviews

3 kits reviewed · more added as we ferment them

Local shop · Adventures in Homebrewing

Cru Select Cabernet Sauvignon

RJS Craft Winemaking

4.5

The kit I'd hand a confident beginner who wants their first batch to actually impress someone.

Master Vintner Weekend Wine Kit box on a kitchen counter beside an Amazon shipping box and a glass of light red wine

Amazon · Amazon

Weekend Wine Kit — Merlot

Master Vintner

3.5

Honest, easy-drinking weeknight Merlot at a fair price — and it lands on your porch in 48 hours.

Finer Wine Kits Forte premium red wine kit box on a dark cellar shelf beside a glass carboy of aging wine and French oak cubes

Online · Label Peelers

Forte Cabernet Sauvignon

Finer Wine Kits

5.0

The best kit-to-bottle quality I've made. If you're patient enough to age it 12 months, it drinks like $40+ wine.

Sister site

Vol. 01 · Membership stub · No. 0001

wineclub group.com

We review wine kits. Our friends at WineClubGroup review the wine of the month clubs that ship to your door. Same honest scoring, different shelf.

A year of clubs · reviewed monthly

Four stamped this quarter. Eight more on the way.

Admit one

Read wine of the month club reviews →

Firstleaf, Winc, Naked, Bright Cellars, Cellars Wine Club — ranked, scored, and reviewed bottle by bottle.

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New to kit wine?

Don't know Winexpert from RJS from Finer Wine Kits?

Our market overview is a brand-by-brand summary of what the internet — competition judges, hands-on reviewers, and forum veterans — actually says about every major wine-kit producer. Curated so you can pick a brand before you pick a kit.

Read the market overview

FAQ

How do you score?

1–5 stars in half-step increments, against what the kit promises. A 5-star $80 kit and a 5-star $200 kit are both excellent — they're not the same wine.

Are you sponsored?

No. We pay retail for every kit. Some links to retailers may earn us a small affiliate fee, but no brand has ever paid for a review or seen one before publish.

How do you pick which kits to review?

A mix: top-of-the-list kits from WineMakerMag's annual rankings, kits Russ buys at his local shop (Adventures in Homebrewing), and Amazon-shipped kits readers ask about most.