Q&A for How to Distill Wine

The water bath is rather inconsequential and suggested mainly for safety. It's a lot less likely to have a catastrophic failure (read: "explosion") with the water bath method. Also, high heat can damage the fragrant organic compounds in a wine than a simple sugar wash.

Copper is a superior conductor of heat energy. You can use other (non-reactive) vessels but it may take longer to reach equilibrium.

Yes. It is safe to distill wine that has not quite finished fermenting (assuming the fermentation didn't stop due to hazardous contamination).

There are such things in everything you ferment. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. Fun fact: orange juice contains more methanol than the average wine.

It likely won't taste as good as store-bought wine. Using a professional recipe might yield better results.