Sep 26 2011
Wine Making and Wine Storage Equipment
The next thing on my mind when creating my dream winery is the property and equipment involved in the whole process. Choosing a winery location is of the utmost importance, and I do a lot of research on winemap.org. Soil and weather have the greatest influence on the quality of grapes. Grapes have the greatest influence on the quality of wine. Some people do own winery facilities and choose to buy their grapes from vineyards off site. But that just doesn’t seem like my style. I’m very into crafting my food from scratch and imagine that making wine will be the same way. I want a piece of property that is big enough to grow wine grapes and organic crops in a greenhouse environment. Nothing tastes as fresh as your own garden.
My research will lead me into many types of equipment. I will need to procure wine barrels for aging. I’ll need machines for gathering grapes along with workers. I am hoping that I can get a good volunteer force going during harvest made up of mostly friends and family who will get rewarded with the fruits of their labor- Free wine. You see, I don’t plan on my winery making huge profits money wise. If it does- Great; If it doesn’t- No big deal. My profit will be the love for what I do. The love of creation- Wine.
I’m also going to have to look into all the different wine storage solutions available today. Wine needs to be stored in different ways in each of the stages of wine making. Sometimes I will need wine cellar type storage, where barrels sit for months soaking in the flavors. Sometimes I will need rooms that act as wine coolers, with huge machine rotating the wine on its side like I’ve seen in my many winery tours. They are crazy machines that are timed to rotate the wine periodically to avoid settling. Then, once the wine has finished being made, and after it is bottled, I’ll have to have some sort of wine storage to prevent the wine from degrading. Do I get another giant wine cooler? This will take some in depth research.
Labeling seems to be another big area of concern for wineries. Not only do I need to have a professionally crafted label that speaks of my wineries quality and individuality, but I also need an economic printing method. I’ve heard that most wineries outsource this side of the business. I’d also be curious to see what kind of cost and facilities are required to do you own wine bottle labeling. I imagine that using an outside company has too many advantages to pass up; The shear volume they work with allows them to order supplies in quantities that drop the price far more than I could expect to get with making wine bottle labels myself. Time for me to do some more wine making research!
Wine racks are an important piece of furniture for an avid collector of wine and can serve more than just a decorative purpose. They aid in the correct storage of wine thereby helping preserve its quality. There are a variety of wine racks available ranging from metal to wooden wine racks. These racks are also available from purely functional to elegant and in a wide price range.