Making Wine

At Gino's School Of Wine you can expect to craft your own private label wine, have lots of fun, and make lots of friends. 

At our first meeting we will give you a tour of the wine school and describe the steps involved in the wine making process. We will then discuss the different varieties of wine grapes available to you and the costs involved. You will then order your grapes, a deposit is taken, and the first class is scheduled.

Once the grapes arrive at Gino’s School Of Wine customers are notified and classes are scheduled to begin. The classes offer hands on involvement in the wine making process. In the second meeting the fundamentals of wine making are explained and the steps in the wine making process are outlined. Students then crush the fresh grapes with our equipment and under our guidance the primary fermentation process will begin. 

Two weeks later the students come back to press the wine and transfer it into a barrel or stainless steel tank where the secondary fermentation process starts to occur. At this time the racking process (transferring wine from one barrel to another) will be explained and a recommended racking schedule will be suggested. Students will then visit the wine school over the next several months to monitor the quality and rack off their respective wines.

During late spring and early summer the wine will be ready to bottle and the students will use our equipment to transfer the wine from the barrel to bottles. Students will then cork the bottles, label them, and take them home.

You can expect to visit our facility about four times and each session will take one to two hours each. The grapes usually start to arrive in the first week of September. Crushing and pressing can be done until about the end of October. Bottling happens about 6 to 9 months later. Happy winemaking!