I'm standing, ankle-deep, in a plastic dustbin full of white grapes, purchased that morning from my local Marks & Spencer. Treading them barefoot in an attempt to separate juice from slippery skins is like trying to peel a banana with a monkey wrench. I've been stomping 15kgs of Chile's finest Thompson Seedless for 10 minutes and there's barely enough juice to fill a small saucepan. "Welcome," winemaking consultant John Worontschak of Litmus Wines tells me, "to the world of hard graft." This batch of sticky liquid is part of an attempt to make my own ethical wine, the aim being to reduce my carbon footprint yet produce something half-decent to drink. The grapes may be South American, the corks Portuguese, but everything else is UK-sourced: yeast, bentonite, sulphur dioxide tablets, fermenting buckets, thermometer, recycled bottles and my own sweat and toil. The Chilean white is one of three wines I've spent the last month fermenting and bottling in my kitchen. The other two came in kit form from www.wineworks.co.uk (a Chardonnay) and www.hopandgrape.co.uk (a red Rioja), complete with "everything the novice winemaker needs to make the process as easy and as fun as possible".

The only real difference between the kits and my foot-trodden Thompson Seedless was that the Chardonnay and the Rioja arrived as bags of grape concentrate. All I had to do was add warm water, a handful of yeast and stand back. Winemaking and wine writing are two very different disciplines. There are points where they intersect - both require an ability to taste wine and identify faults - but I can't pretend I wasn't scared as the fermentations started to gurgle after 24 hours. Would my house explode? Would the wines turn to vinegar? Fortunately, the instructions that came with the kits were clear. A winemaker must sterilise his equipment before use and check the temperature and sugar content (gravity) of his fermenting must on a daily basis, to monitor its progress towards alcoholic dryness. If the temperature is too warm or too cold the fermentation may get stuck, which is potentially down-the-sink time. So every morning, over a cup of coffee, I would check my three wines, stirring them with a huge plastic spoon, tasting them for sweetness and then measuring them with the hydrometer and thermometer before I recorded the data.

"Just enjoy it," was John's advice.I enjoyed watching my wines bubbling gently away. I enjoyed racking them from one bucket to another at the end of fermentation, using a technique that will be familiar to anyone who has ever siphoned petrol from a car. I enjoyed mixing bentonite, adding the clay to get the wines to settle. And I enjoyed bottling the stuff. Best of all, I enjoyed the thrill of making my own wine. Would I enjoy drinking it, however? Yes, as it happens. No one would confuse my three wines - dubbed Les Champs du Sud I, II and III after the south London suburb where I live - with Château Lafite or Corton-Charlemagne, but they were all surprisingly palatable. The Rioja, to which I chose not to add oak chips, was soft and fruity, as young Tempranillo should be, the Chardonnay was round and nutty, and the Chilean Thompson Seedless was fragrant and crisp. Two of them were also cheap to make, which may explain why sales of home winemaking kits have gone "berserk", according to Richard Blackwell of Wineworks.

Once you've bought a basic winemaking kit (around £40 for buckets, thermometer, hydrometer, corks and racking equipment, all of which are reusable), the actual liquid is comparatively inexpensive. online wine uk giftsThe Superior Chardonnay and Selection Spanish Rioja juices cost me £38.95 and £67.95, which worked out at £1.29 and £2.26 a bottle each. best wine to go with vanilla cakeBoth taste better than anything you'll find in a supermarket under £2.50.sweet red wine available in the philippines My Thompson Seedless was more expensive. wine os x fontsThe 15kgs of grapes cost £59.85, but produced only eight bottles - at the equivalent of £7.48 a go. best wine delivery london

Ethically speaking, my carbon footprint was larger, too, as the grapes were South American. My Chardonnay and Rioja, on the other hand, came from Italy and Spain via Derbyshire and Darlington.best wine making software What did a professional winemaker make of my efforts? cheap wine by the case uk"Well, they're clean," said John, "which is a good start. wine on tap new yorkGiven that you were probably working with press wine, which is not the best juice, the results aren't too bad." top red wine italian"Drinkable, just," was Keith's verdict on Les Champs du Sud. "I'll know things are bad when I start treading grapes in my back garden. You could have saved yourself all that effort."

Like What You're Reading? Your First Wine from a Kit - WineMaker Magazine About Best Sellers in Wine Making Kits These lists, updated hourly, contain best-selling items.Everyone knows somebody at uni who tried to brew their own moonshine and for months had a bath full of beer or lots of “special stuff” that was handed out at raucous parties. The stakes are higher now for those in the home-brewing business. Being a craft beer producer is very “in”, but it can take months to get a decent batch together - who has time to be cool and patient? These homebrewing kits will help you brew some special concoctions without having to revert to beer brewing in the bath. Most require you to collect your own bottles before you start bottling, but most provide the basics - yeast, thermometer, and funnel. Bear in mind that the longer you leave your home brew to ferment the stronger it will be. The product you’ll get at the end of it might be a little rough around the edges, but for the most part, home brew kits provide simple, uncomplicated alcohol.

Don’t expect lagers or ales with enormous depth of flavour - these are your smooth, rich, beers that are flat, hearty brews. Don’t be that person who leaves beer brewing over the winter and rediscovers it in summer only to find that they’ve managed to create pure alcohol. The actual brewing process isn’t as complicated you might imagine. The toughest part of testing these was locating enough empty bottles and containers to store the elixir in - luckily friends and family helped sink a few in the name of research. Choose a cool, dry room in your house in which to brew your beer, although I certainly don’t have the luxury of a spare room and it must be noted that the smell of fermenting can get a bit cheesy. A dry cellar, attic, or (if you’re truly blessed) a kitchen pantry is your best bet, but in the living room behind the sofa works fine too. If you’re excited by clean, smooth-tasting beer that’s suitable for both beer aficionados and those new to the craft, this is the beer for you.

This kit comes with a craft brewing guide, an airlock, thermometer, and a funnel to make sure that you don’t end up tipping your elixir all over the carpet. After some easily-explained step-by-step brewing instructions, expect to ferment your beer for around two weeks with delectable results. 2. Victor’s Drinks Mixed Berry Cider Kit: £15.99, findmeagift.co.uk For just £15.99 you can make yourself a lot of mixed berry cider. Around 10 pints in fact. Don’t expect the sparkling fruitiness you get from that shop-bought nonsense. Instead, this is a smooth, rich, flat flavour, which makes it perfect for autumn. It only takes 10 days to brew - shorter than most beers - and the alcohol percentage isn’t massive. Expect around 4.5% alcohol for your efforts (which pretty much amounts to adding yeast and warm water to a sachet.) Leave it longer if you’re after more of an alcoholic kick. If you’re more of a bitters person. Kilner is a great place to start. This home brew packet contains everything you need to get started — a trial jar, a thermometer, a mixing spoon, a siphon, a knock on bottle capper, and a 25 litre fermentation bucket.

This set makes up to 40 pints of bitters by just adding water, so it really does provide everything you need to make a great pint. 5. Woodforde’s Admiral’s Reserve Starter Kit: £22.99, lakeland.co.uk If dark and fruity is more your thing then opt for this, an excellent starter kit for aspiring brewers. It makes 40 pints, and all you need to do is add water. The flavour is pretty fruity, so for beer purists it might not quite hit the spot. If you follow their instructions comprehensively you should create a beer with an APV of around 5.5%, so not too strong at all. It makes 40 pints at 4.5% but 32 pints at 5.5%, so choose your poison wisely. If you’re after lots of beer, fast, this is the kit for you. In just 14 days you’ll have 25 pints of Moonshine home brew to drink. Choose from Four Candles Bitter, Cheesemaker’s Golden Ale (great with, you guessed it, cheese), or their newest option, the Dark Adder Dark Ale. The Four Candles Bitter is their mildest brew, while the dark ale is full bodied with notes of liquorice.

This is one for ale purists, who like strong flavours with a mild alcohol percentage (4.2%). 3. Victor’s Drinks Pale Ale Kit: £24.99, findmeagift.co.uk If you follow all the instructions, in 10 days you’ll have 20 pints of pale ale to sup. Not only will this set you up throughout winter, it’ll also impress your friends that you are, indeed, a craft brewer (of sorts). The makers promise it’s so simple that you could “brew after a few pints”. The ingredients are basic - hopped barley, malt extract, and malted barley. Simply add water and voila — beer! 7. California Connoisseur Cabernet Merlot 6 bottle: £12.48, brewuk.co.uk If ale isn’t for you, you can also brew your own wine. The California Connoisseur kits promise that, in just 28 days, you’ll have a quaffable red wine that’s actually decent to drink. The kits require no extra sugar or ingredients, but you will need a five litre demi-john, a narrow-necked bottle. The step-by step guide is easy, and requires you to just add yeast, water, and ferment — 28 days later and you’ll have six bottles of wine to share around your table and pretend you’re a professional vintner.