Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, of course! This is one of our most frequently asked questions. One of the friends will be the vintner of record for a batch. A great way to start filling your ‘cellar’ is to each do a batch so you don’t end up with 30 bottles of one kind. If one person makes a red, another makes a white and a third makes a mist, rosé or dessert wine, then you’ll each have 10 bottles of different wines instead of having 30 of just one wine.

• recyclable cardboard boxes
• reusable wooden boxes
• reusable wine pokes

You’ll find examples of these on our Giftware page. If you’re a boater or camper, you’ll definitely want to do this.

This is one of our most frequently asked questions. Unfortunately, our liquor license does not allow us to do this. We guarantee all of our wines and when you come in to bottle your batch, you are allowed to have a small taste of it at that time. It’ll be young and need to age a bit in the bottle to come to its full potential. Red wines generally take a little longer to reach that smooth finish so you’ll want to age them in the bottle. 

Yes, there’s no charge and no reservation required. Come into the shop any time during open hours and we’ll take you through the process from selecting your wine, starting fermentation, the racking, filtering, fining, degassing and other processes we do while you wait for a call to come and bottle it. You’ll have fun choosing shrink caps, corking it and and putting the labels on while chatting with the staff. At the same time, you can learn about modifications you can make to the wines to make it your own unique product.

Once you’ve selected the wine you want to make, it takes about 15 minutes to get it started. We’ll help you put the ingredients into a Primary Fermenter and you’ll add the yeast to start the fermentation process. Depending on the kit, takes anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks until the fermentation process is complete. You’ll get a call to make a bottling appointment at which you’ll spend about 30 minutes making your finished product. We’ll help with bottle filling and you’ll look after corking, shrink capping and labeling the bottles.

We’ve kept our wine for up to 6 years and it’s been fine. Some of our customers have kept theirs even longer. These wines are not engineered to be aged much longer than 5-6 years. Commercial wines that can withstand longer aging have far more sulphites in them to preserve them longer. Our bottling and aging chart will give you a good idea when it’s best to start consuming your wines.

This is another one of our most frequently asked questions. Each person’s tastes are different but as a general rule, our bottling and aging chart will suit most.

In the top menu bar, click on the magnifying glass icon and type the name of the wine. We may carry more than one if we carry platinum, gold, silver and bronze versions of that wine. Each one will have different qualities so click away to see which one will best suit your taste. This search functionality also works for finding foods you like which will in turn show you the wines that pair best with those foods. It also works in case you are looking for other information like oak, body and sweetness. We use a consistent format to display these and once you’ve looked at one of our wine pages, you’ll know how to search for those.

Each batch of dessert or ice wine style wine will make 30 half bottles (375 ml).

This one of our most frequently asked questions from those preparing to celebrate their engagement, milestone birthdays, retirements and other large family events. There are lots of factors to consider like:

• number of guests
• whether it’s a wine-drinking crowd
• time of day
• time of year
• how formal it is
• the menu
• and more

Determine how many people will be drinking at the event. Expect each person to have 4 glasses at 5 ounces each (a standard drink). Each 750 ml bottle holds 5 glasses of wine.

• 100 guests
• 100 x 4 glasses = 400 glasses
• 400 / 5 glasses per 750 ml bottle = 80 bottles of wine
• 80/30 750 ml bottles per batch = 2.66
• Round up to 3 batches of wine

Yes, there is a small fee for this. More information can be found on the Government of British Columbia website. Just search for “special event permit” and you will find the page where you can apply.

This is one of our most frequently asked questions. Once you’ve chosen the wine you want to make, we help you get it started and you pour the yeast into the Primary Fermenter. This takes about 15 minutes. We look after all the production and quality control processes until it’s time for you to come and bottle it. We then help you fill the bottles and leave the corking, shrink capping and labeling to you. This takes about 30 minutes.

We have a pneumatic corker which is easy to use but if you want to do it the old-fashioned way, we have a manual corker too. Then you pick the colour of shrink cap you want on your bottles. Anything goes but most people like to match it to their labels. You’ll then place them on the corked bottle and slide the top of the bottle into a heated coil for 3 seconds. All our labels are the ‘peel and stick’ kind so the last step is easy too. Then you take your wine home and show it off by enjoying it with your friends and family.

If you are storing it for a long time, it’s not a good idea because it’s too cool, too dry and is generally vibrating. It can negatively affect the flavour and aroma of the wine if it’s left in the fridge too long. We recommend that you place your wine in the fridge 30-60 minutes before drinking it.

No, once your wine is ready and you’ve bottled it, you need to take it home. This is required by law.

Top reds: Cabernet Malbec Carménère, Meritage, Rosso Grande

Top whites: Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc (NZ), Müller Thurgau

Top rosé: Pinot Noir Rosé

Top fruit: White Sangria

Top dessert: Après

Top ice wine: Riesling

Our Limited Editions are always in high demand.  The bulk of them run from December through April every year but every so often we get some at other times of the year.

This is one of our most frequently asked questions because once they do the math, people can hardly believe they can make such good wines for so little!

In the top menu, select PRODUCTS to see what the current price ranges are for the type of wine you’re looking for. These prices include everything except bottles and taxes on the bottles, labels, corks, shrink caps and winery fees. The wine itself is not taxable because you’re producing it.

Platinum (8-week) wines are the most expensive, then Gold (8-week), then Silver (6-week), then Bronze (5-week) and finally there are the cheap and cheerful wines.

If you bring your own bottles it helps reduce the cost. You can bring the cork or screw cap kind and they will both take corks. They need to be  very clean to be sure nothing goes wrong with your wine after it’s bottled. If they have commercial labels on them, those either need to be removed or defaced.

We guarantee all of our wines so if you are not happy with it, we will replace it with a different wine. The key is to select the wine that’s best suited to your taste. We have very strict rules on cleanliness which is important to ensure no wine faults occur. We have comprehensive quality control processes to measure aspects of your wine at each critical stage. We as owners have been making our wine at this shop since 2001 and have never been disappointed.

The alcohol level in our wines ranges from 11% to 14.5%.

Crystals are affectionately known as “wine diamonds” in the industry. They are tartrate crystals which are completely harmless and will not affect the flavor of the wine. Tartaric acid is the primary acid found in wine that promotes balance and lends to an elegant mouthfeel.

No, our liquor license does not allow us to do this. The wines you make in our facility belong to you and as soon as you have bottled your wines, you’re required to personally take them with you. The extent to which we can offer free shipping is to help you get your bottled wines from our facility to one our free customer parking spots behind the shop.

Ideally it should be in a dark, humid, cool (10°-15°C/53°-60°F) place with little temperature fluctuation and no movement. We use synthetic corks so it can be stored standing up or on its side.