The process

At Niagara Brew Club, we guide you through every step of the process. The journey of making wine starts long before you walk through the doors. Our wine kits are made from the finest available grapes in the world, from the vineyards of old world vineyards in Europe to the new world orchards of America. Our craft beer kits use the best ingredients distilled in state-of-the-art facilities right here in Ontario, Canada. We always choose the best possible blends for the wine glasses at your dinner parties and celebrations. Afterall, a special occasion deserves a special drink.

When you come to Niagara Brew Club, we give you personalized recommendations for what wines or beers you may enjoy. If you enjoy Cabernet Sauvignon, you’ll probably like Ribera del Duero. Or if you like Pinot Noir, a good Gamay might appeal to your palate.

You’re just looking for a good wine for dinner tonight, but there are countless varieties of wines to choose from around the world. You would be hard pressed to try them all and you would probably find that you’ll like more than just one. So, how do you choose?

This is where we come in, not only do we help you decide today, we help to give you the insider tips and tricks for how you can choose wines in the future and impress your friends with your newfound winemaking expertise. When choosing a wine, we think about the styles, and the types of varieties you enjoy. We provide you with the skills to fully appreciate the smell, flavour, texture, and body of a good wine until you become a wine connoisseur.

We carry many varieties of wine and beer ranging from different origins and qualities. The higher quality the wine, the longer it takes to brew. After you choose what kind of wine or beer and what quality kit you want to use, we get started on the making step!

Note: The LCBO requires that the customer own the ingredients and begin by sprinkling the yeast to begin fermentation. We will assist you at all times to whatever extent required. 

After we start the batch, you can relax until the wine or beer is ready to be bottled in 4-8 weeks. If you are planning on gifting these to your friends or celebrating a special occasion, we suggest you begin well in advance. 

The last step is the most satisfying. When you arrive for your bottling appointment you will need to sanitize your bottles, fill and cork them, and finish by applying labels and shrink caps. The other option is to bag your wine so you can easily transport it to the cottage or enjoy it directly from your fridge. We provide all the necessary equipment and assistance for you to accomplish this with ease.

A Premium Gift without the Premium Price Tag

Taking the time to select the right wine for the recipient is a great way to show how well you know them, and how much you care. Wine can honour the recipient’s heritage, it is personalized to a person's palate for acidity, body, sweetness, and flavour, as well as alcohol threshold. There are so many different blends of wine to choose from around the world, which can make it like finding a needle in a haystack for the right one. We’re right here with you with not only winemaking expertise but also cultural knowledge and experience.

Wine is great for sharing with your friends at any occasion! Be it holidays, weddings, or birthdays, there is sure to be a wine to match. Many people stick to a couple wines they know they like but you would never stick to just one or two foods at a celebration. Different wines complement different foods and it’s always smart to prepare a variety. Some specific wines are also traditionally associated with special occasions like Champagne and sparkling wines for celebrations, Sangria or punch for cookouts, or Rieslings for date nights. Never settle for just one! Wine is a fitting accompaniment to some of life’s greatest pleasures.

Wine is a great gift because there’s no pressure on the recipient to drink it now, left unopened, the right wine can improve with age. This means that the recipient can enjoy it at a time of their choosing, without the pressure of an expiry date.

Impress you Friends with these Wine Tasting Terms

ACIDIC: Used to describe wines whose total acid is so high that they taste tart or sour and have a sharp edge on the palate.

AERATION: The process of letting a wine "breathe" in the open air, or swirling wine in a glass. It's debatable whether aerating bottled wines (mostly reds) improves their quality. Aeration can soften young, tannic wines; it can also fatigue older ones.

AFTERTASTE: The taste or flavors that linger in the mouth after the wine is tasted, spit or swallowed. The aftertaste or "finish" is the most important factor in judging a wine's character and quality. Great wines have rich, long, complex aftertastes.

AROMA: Traditionally defined as the smell that wine acquires from the grapes and from fermentation. Now it more commonly means the wine's total smell, including changes that resulted from oak aging or that occurred in the bottle- good or bad. "Bouquet" has a similar meaning.

AUSTERE: Used to describe relatively hard, high-acid wines that lack depth and roundness. Usually said of young wines that need time to soften, or wines that lack richness and body.

BRIGHT: Used for fresh, ripe, zesty, lively young wines with vivid, focused flavors.

BRILLIANT: Describes the appearance of very clear wines with absolutely no visible suspended or particulate matter. Not always a plus, as it can indicate a highly filtered wine.

BUTTERY: Indicates the smell of melted butter or toasty oak. Also a reference to texture, as in "a rich, buttery Chardonnay."

CEDARY: Denotes the smell of cedar wood associated with mature Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet blends aged in French or American oak.

DELICATE: Used to describe light- to medium-weight wines with good flavors. A desirable quality in wines such as Pinot Noir or Riesling.

DENSE: Describes a wine that has concentrated aromas on the nose and palate. A good sign in young wines.

DEPTH: Describes the complexity and concentration of flavors in a wine, as in a wine with excellent or uncommon depth. Opposite of shallow.

EARTHY: Used to describe both positive and negative attributes in wine. At its best, a pleasant, clean quality that adds complexity to aroma and flavors. The flip side is a funky, barnyardy character that borders on or crosses into dirtiness.

ELEGANT: Used to describe wines of grace, balance and beauty.

FRESH:  Having a lively, clean and fruity character. An essential for young wines.

FRUITY: Having the aroma and taste of fruit or fruits.

HARMONIOUS: Well balanced, with no component obtrusive or lacking.

HARSH: Used to describe astringent wines that are tannic or high in alcohol.

HERBACEOUS: Denotes the taste and smell of herbs in a wine. A plus in many wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, and to a lesser extent Merlot and Cabernet. Herbal is a synonym.

HOT: High alcohol, unbalanced wines that tend to burn with "heat" on the finish are called hot. Acceptable in Port-style wines.

LINGERING: Used to describe the flavor and persistence of flavor in a wine after tasting. When the aftertaste remains on the palate for several seconds, it is said to be lingering.

LIVELY: Describes wines that are fresh and fruity, bright and vivacious.

NUTTY: Used to describe oxidized wines. Often a flaw, but when it's close to an oaky flavor it can be a plus.

OAKY: Describes the aroma or taste quality imparted to a wine by the oak barrels or casks in which it was aged. Can be either positive or negative. The terms toasty, vanilla, dill, cedary and smoky indicate the desirable qualities of oak; charred, burnt, green cedar, lumber and plywood describe its unpleasant side.

RICH: Wines with generous, full, pleasant flavors, usually sweet and round in nature, are described as rich. In dry wines, richness may be supplied by high alcohol and glycerin, by complex flavors and by an oaky vanilla character. Decidedly sweet wines are also described as rich when the sweetness is backed up by fruity, ripe flavors.

ROBUST: Means full-bodied, intense and vigorous, perhaps a bit overblown.

SPICY: A descriptor for many wines, indicating the presence of spice flavors such as anise, cinnamon, cloves, mint and pepper which are often present in complex wines. 

SUBTLE: Describes delicate wines with finesse, or flavors that are understated rather than full-blown and overt. A positive characteristic.

TANNIN: The mouth-puckering substance--found mostly in red wines--that is derived primarily from grape skins, seeds and stems, but also from oak barrels. Tannin acts as a natural preservative that helps wine age and develop.

TART: Sharp-tasting because of acidity. Occasionally used as a synonym for acidic.

VOLATILE (or Volatile Acidity): Describes an excessive and undesirable amount of acidity, which gives a wine a slightly sour, vinegary edge. At very low levels (0.1 percent), it is largely undetectable; at higher levels it is considered a major defect.

Making a Beer

Making a Wine

From vineyard to glass, winemaking is a journey that takes dedication and care in every step to achieve the quality we expect in our favourite blends. Our supplier Winexpert sets the standard for worldwide wine making kits, sourcing high quality grape juice and concentrate from the world’s best wine regions and processing in state-of-the-art facilities to offer the finest wines available to all of our customers.