Still Red

The category that defines what people mean by “wine.”

Defining structure

Tannin from skins; ABV 11–15.5%; dry to off-dry; ages 1–30+ years depending on style.

History

Red wine's prehistory stretches back at least 8,000 years to the Caucasus. Monastic orders in medieval Europe codified vineyard practice and wrote the first classifications. The 19th century brought phylloxera and the rebuild on American rootstocks. The 20th century globalized the category from a French/Italian staple into a worldwide commodity.

Classic examples

kit easy

6-Gallon Merlot Kit

Wine kits are the easiest entry point into home winemaking. A pre-balanced juice concentrate plus yeast and ad…

11-13% ABV 81d total
fruit moderate

Blackberry Country Wine

Country wines made from non-grape fruit are the home-winemaking tradition that predates modern kits. Blackberr…

10-12% ABV 118d total
grape advanced

Simple Grape Red (Juice Pail)

Pre-pressed varietal juice pails are the natural next step after kit wines. You get the structure and aromatic…

13-14% ABV 232d total
fruit moderate

Plum Country Wine

Plum wine sits between fruit wine and country red — the ripe stone fruit gives plenty of color, body, and tann…

11-13% ABV 150d total
fruit moderate

Raspberry Country Wine

Raspberry country wine is bright, fragrant, and one of the easier soft-fruit projects. Don't over-press the fr…

10-12% ABV 103d total
country moderate

Elderberry Country Wine

Elderberry wine is the British country-winemaking benchmark — deep, tannic, age-worthy, and the closest thing …

11-13% ABV 150d total
kit easy

6-Gallon Cabernet Sauvignon Kit

Cabernet Sauvignon kits demand a bit more patience than Merlot kits — the structured tannin and oak character …

12-14% ABV 111d total
kit easy

6-Gallon Pinot Noir Kit

Pinot Noir kit wine is harder to nail than Cabernet — the grape's delicacy doesn't survive the concentration-a…

11-13% ABV 86d total
grape advanced

Small-Batch Hand-Crushed Grape (5 gal)

The traditional foot-stomp small-batch grape harvest — closer to medieval winemaking than to anything you do w…

13-15% ABV 290d total
kit easy

6-Gallon Red Blend (GSM-style Kit)

Red-blend kits — typically marketed as GSM-style, Bordeaux-style, or super-Tuscan-style — combine multiple gra…

12-14% ABV 141d total

Food pairings

Serving notes

Serve at 60–65°F. Decant young heavyweights 30–60 minutes; old wines briefly to wake them.