Winemaking

Why make your own wine?

Homemade wine is not something you just drink at home but something you can share with friends at a party or during a family gathering, plus, there’s plenty of benefits.

The Value
You can craft winery-quality wine for a fraction of what you would spend on similar store-bought wine.

It’s Fun!
Socialize with other winemakers while you bottle your wine at our store or craft your wine at home with a group of friends. You’ll meet new people, share your passion, and quickly realize why this has been a popular pastime for decades.

The Convenience
Have a cellar full of wine for every occasion and food pairing right at your fingertips. No more last minute trips to the liquor store!

Okay, so now you know why you should make wine, but how do you do it?

First, you need to decide if you will make the wine yourself at home or at our store. Our on-premise winemaking facility takes the mess out of making it at home, but if you prefer to have a more hands-on experience, you can certainly do it yourself.

If you’re making it at our facility, you will first select your wine—we can recommend a great style based on what you already like to drink. We will prepare the juice and then you will sprinkle the yeast. Over the next several weeks we will carefully follow all of the necessary steps to create delicious wine. When your wine is complete, you return to bottle it. You can either bring your own bottles that are clean or purchase new bottles at our store. After bottling, you can apply your choice of bottle label (standard or custom) and top it off with a matching shrink top. Better yet, unbottle it and join the rising Bag-in-Box movement!

Alternatively, if you make your wine at home you will find that it is still easy and rewarding. Of course, you will need a bit of equipment to get started. The equipment is inexpensive and pays for itself after your first couple of batches. We have winemaking equipment and supplies available to help get you started, or we recommend looking online as a good alternative for used options. All of our kits come with step by step instructions and will take about 4 hours of your time spanned over the course of a few weeks. The process can vary slightly from wine to wine, but generally, there are 4 basic steps:

  1. Primary Fermentation
  2. Secondary Fermentation
  3. Stabilizing and Clearing
  4. Bottling

Experience craft winemaking for yourself and see why nearly 20 million bottles of WinexpertTM wine is crafted each year.

Wine Storage Tips

Here are some wine storage tips to ensure top-quality wine:

Do:
Store your wine upright for the first 3 to 5 days.
After that, store your wine on its side in order to keep the cork moist.
Store your wine in a cool, dark place.
Your wine should be stored where the temperature is CONSISTENT… Bright light, movement, and temperature fluctuations can negatively affect the quality of your wine.

Do Not:
Do not constantly turn your wine. Red wines will sometimes dust (leave residue on the inside of the bottle). This is normal. Simply decant your wine.
Do not store your wine directly on a cement floor. Put a thick piece of wood under your wine storage boxes.
Do not store your wine on heated floors.