Sometimes, you just don’t get exactly the results you were hoping for from your wine making supplies. Sure, the wine you’ve just made may be perfectly drinkable, but even after aging properly, sometimes the flavor just, well, falls flat. There are a lot of reasons why this can happen, ranging from not following your recipe correctly to inferior quality ingredients or any number of other causes. However, there are ways to ensure that your wine turns out just how you envisioned it when you began – there are a lot of additives and other products which you can find from the same retailers who sell wine making kits and they can make a huge difference to your wine.

For example, it’s probably not practical for you to keep oak barrels around to age your wine in; however, you can still get that flavor into your wine with oak chips from your favorite purveyor of wine making supplies. Not everyone is a fan of heavily oaked wines, but some wines definitely benefit from a touch of this woody, earthy flavor. They’re inexpensive and as experienced amateur winemakers can tell you, a little goes a long way.

Wine Additives That Help the Process

Another wine making additive you may want to think about adding to your arsenal of wine making supplies are tartaric or citric acid. These additives are an easy way to give a wine which is lacking structure a little bit of much-needed zing. There are other acids available for use in wine making, as well as blends which can give a flat tasting wine a little lift.

Sodium metabisulfite is one especially useful additive; this ingredient inhibits the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms which can spoil a perfectly good batch of homemade wine. It also helps to prevent oxidation, which is something which can easily ruin your wine. It’s not a necessity, strictly speaking, but it it’s definitely an ingredient which you should think about picking up.

Tannin is something which is present in red grape skins (and to a lesser extent, in grape juice). It imparts an astringent, “pucker” character to the flavor of your wine – and sometimes, you may find that there’s not quite enough in the juice or concentrate that you’re using to make a particular batch. Not only does tannin provide this quality to your wine, but it can also eliminate the vegetal flavors which can make an otherwise good wine unappealing.

There are many other additives and specialty ingredients to discover, but that’s part of the fun of making your own wine: there’s a lot to learn about and to try for yourself. If you’ve been finding your homemade wines a little lacking, then it’s time to read up a little more about additives and trying some out – you may be surprised by how much better they can make your wine.