A winery is either a building or a property that produces wine. Wineries could also be a business involved in the production of wine, like a wine company. Some wine companies may own many wineries, while others just purchase grapes from a vineyard owner.
Purpose
Wineries produce wine from grapes, following the proper winemaking process, which consists of the fermentation of fruit and blending, then aging the juice. Many vineyards also offer tours to guests and have tasting rooms where customers can taste wine before making a purchase.
Locations
When most people think of wineries, they immediately associate it with the Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley in California, Italy and France, the large and legendary winemaking regions. However, winegrowers can be found everywhere in the world. Wineries do not always have to be located next to a vineyard as grapes can be shipped worldwide.
Farm Winery
A farm winery allows farms to produce and sell wines on site. A farm winery is different from a commercial winery because the final product is sold also on the farm. Since New York passed the Farm Winery Act of 1976, they opened a satellite shop in a tourist area. Doing so motivated other states to pass similar laws.
Micro-Winery
A micro-winery is a small wine producer that doesn’t have its own vineyard so it, instead, gets grapes from outside suppliers. The concept of a micro-winery is similar to those of a microbrewery, but it is not as easily accepted as the microbrewery’s concept. A winery uses the same wine-making equipment as a commercial winery does, but on a smaller scale. Each batch of wine usually produces 23 liters or 6 US gallons. One of the main differences between a micro-winery and a typical winery is that a micro-winery offers a wider range of wines, due to the fact that it is not tied to the grapes as it grows.
Urban winery
Urban winery is the latest sensation, wherein a wine producer chooses to place their winemaking facility in an urban setting within the city rather than in the traditional rural setting near vineyards. Urban wineries can be found in several cities across the United States, such as Nevada County, Placer County, Sacramento, and many more. Just like the traditional wineries, urban ones also offer production tours, tasting rooms and also retail sales of their wines. This allows the customer to purchase directly from the source, knowing that the wines have been stored properly and correctly because they do not need to be transferred anymore from its source, which increases its chances of getting spoiled due to dangerous conditions that could occur during the transport.
Some urban vineyards also offer full service restaurants for live entertainment right on the spot. They also offer their customers the special chance to create their own wine, of course under the supervision of the winemaking crew, wherein they can choose their own varieties of grape, select an appellation, then make production decisions and then participate in the blending and mixing of the final product. Customers then get to bottle and even design their own labels.
Len Stevens Construction has designed and built numerous locations and understands the process in the winery development industry.
These steps will assure you an enjoyable process from concept to completion.