Endless Summer Winery

[myakkagldwngr]

If 'n' when, we can afford to travel again we'll have to pay you a visit.
My wife is orginally from the St. Louis area and still has a SIL that lives in Warsaw. She has cousins and such still, but all her immediate family are gone.
I like the area her SIL is living at. Country, Truman lake, deer in the back property,,, what more could you ask for,,,
oh yeah!!!
Wine.
I loved the write up you did. Who doesn't dream of having a business you enjoy doing.. With all the licenses and paper work, is there a minimum size you have to meet to be considered a winery. Could you start small and then build up as you go along?

 

[okree]

So.... do the cone-bottom tanks allow you to rack off sediment from the bottom, or do you still need to transfer to a new tank? I'm trying to decide between the 200 gallon cone-bottom tanks and the FlexTanks.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

I loved the write up you did. Who doesn't dream of having a business you enjoy doing.. With all the licenses and paper work, is there a minimum size you have to meet to be considered a winery. Could you start small and then build up as you go along?

thanks. there is not a minimum, but there is for actually making a profit. since the bonds and licenses are fixed and the operating costs are similar, you have to make so much wine or charge so much for it to make money. we are not going to make alot or be expensive. bottles in the $10-15 range. first year about 10-12,000 bottles (very small amount of wine if you look into winery numbers). if we don't sell them all, they'll just age and we'll make less the next year. we do plan on growing!

aub-juan- we rack from the top down. using a rod with a SS filter.

jeeping chick- road trip?

 

[ffemt128]

oh wow! wish u were closer so i could come walk around and drool over the equipment!!

Watch the drooling, he will have to re-sanitize everything and you may just end up in the corner again.....

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Watch the drooling, he will have to re-sanitize everything and you may just end up in the corner again.....

tell me about it! home sanitizing for wine is cake compared to the winery. dare i say that i miss just making 5 gal?

First draft of the label. my parents want it simple and country. boooo! i wanted to throw a little artistic touch, as i'm a graphics nut, but nope. just simple (minus an entire crop of the sunflower to give a foreground). let me know what you think. still have time before approval. still needed a back label....

 

[pwrose]

Why not a picture of a handfull of pecans in a wine glass. Not a sunflower for a pecan wine, not that the lable is a bad one but something there just doesnt add up.
Sunflower pic = pecan wine
Glass full of pecans = pecan wine

 

[Roatan_Mark]

I agree with pwrose, seems the label is a bit off target for a pecan wine. But then again I am no expert at advertising....... Maybe a pecan tree in it's full summer glory with a glass full of pecans in the foeground. But then again you do need consistent recognition of your winery label reguardless of the type of wine.

 

[Roatan_Mark]

On another note, you said you rack off the top of the tanks. So you only use the valve at the bottom of the conical to drain and clean after racking? I always thought as in brewing that you could crack the valve for a moment to eliminate the lees sitting on the bottom instead of re-racking again and again to age in bulk. So you age in the bottles? What did I miss? I was going to get a couple of the conical plastic tanks just for that reason so if indeed it isn't feasible to do such a drain because of pressure or whatever then the idea of a conical for me is moot, might as well just use something cheaper.

 

[Runningwolf]

I like the idea of Pecans in the glass

 

[myakkagldwngr]

Yeah, the pecans in the glass would be really nice. Then if you can get someone good at photo shopping, have a squirrel sitting beside it with a pecan in it's paws.

 

[countrygirl]

Yeah, the pecans in the glass would be really nice. Then if you can get someone good at photo shopping, have a squirrel sitting beside it with a pecan in it's paws.

found this one, thought it was cute. maybe andy could do some magic with the text.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

On another note, you said you rack off the top of the tanks. So you only use the valve at the bottom of the conical to drain and clean after racking? I always thought as in brewing that you could crack the valve for a moment to eliminate the lees sitting on the bottom instead of re-racking again and again to age in bulk. So you age in the bottles? What did I miss? I was going to get a couple of the conical plastic tanks just for that reason so if indeed it isn't feasible to do such a drain because of pressure or whatever then the idea of a conical for me is moot, might as well just use something cheaper.

we will do some light aging in the tank, but mostly in the bottles. you could crack the bottom open for the lees, but you'd be using wine to push it out. therefore, you'll be losing more of the wine than you would otherwise. we pump the wine IN through the bottom using the pump. the "fully-draining" is more for cleaning than anything. it's hard to clean other tanks as the openings in the top being too small make it difficult to clean the bottms of other tanks.

the label is a generic label for ALL of our wines. it would cost us more to have a different label for each wine. i would like to do a different label, but i'm out numbered (there are 3 of us in it). was agreed one label for every wine, with only the wine type/name changing. no biggie really as we are more concerned with wine quality, price and having a nice environment to drink the wine. believe me, i've tried to convince them into a more extravagant label. they don't think it fits with our wines.

 

[countrygirl]

i think having the same label is the going thing. my "local" winery (30 mi. close) has the same little purple toad and the winery we visited yesterday (st. francois) has a very humorous vat with good ole' country folk stomping them grapes
that way, anytime someone sees your label, they know it's yours! i think the different labels are fun for us homemade winers...fun to play with 'em on the computer.
how far away are you from farmington/park hills?

 

[Midwest Vintner]

that way, anytime someone sees your label, they know it's yours! i think the different labels are fun for us homemade winers...fun to play with 'em on the computer.
how far away are you from farmington/park hills?

not sure where that is??? i came from st. charles county and know St. Louis better than the country.

country girl hit the nail on the head. it's called name or brand recognition. i took marketing in my "multimedia" studies. there are a few ways to get people to buy your wine, but nothing is better than name or brand recognition. for example, fat ******* is well known for it's name of course and wines like yellow tail have the same label with just different colors. Wild Horse has a very low detailed horse and so on. to me, it's not a huge deal as we are selling through our own tasting/retail location. we can change the label later if we want, but IMO, i hope word of mouth and the tastings will sell the wine for us.

 

[countrygirl]

i now see opening spring '11!!
i see a road trip in my future!
(again!, lol, i love road trips!)

 

[winemaker_3352]

Park Hills is about 2 hours southwest of Hermann.

 

[countrygirl]

Park Hills is about 2 hours southwest of Hermann.

dang jon, park hills was 3 hr. for me, so that's 5 hours...
i see an overnite trip in my future, lol

 

[winemaker_3352]

dang jon, park hills was 3 hr. for me, so that's 5 hours...
i see an overnite trip in my future, lol

Yeah - that would be an over nighter - unless you want to leave at like 3AM and get home at midnight .

It can be done - i could have done that about 10-15 years ago - i need my sleep now though..

 

[winemaker_3352]

lets talk about the property.

before doing the above, you'll want a good spot. zoning is an issue. schools and churches can be a problem. make sure before buying property, you get permission from local governments (in writing!) that the place is good to go. remember to look into water and waste disposal options. heating and cooling are another issue. we bought a house with an extra large garage (30' x 30'), heated and cooling already inside, with SEPARATE electric meter. that part is also a must have. a winery has to be separate from any residence for the building (although technically the building can be the same, IF there are not ANY entrances from the inside between the two. meaning you have to go outside to enter the winery part of the building). water and electric must also be serparate. also, you need to build the walls and floor to deal with water. we put up plastic paneling and installed floor drains (concrete work sucks!). hot water is also a must. you'll need a parking or some kind of street access. location is also key. easier to make money when you have traffic nearby. we are off a the major road that goes into hermann, which is one of the first appellations in the country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann,_Missouri). a good view never hurts

Be aware that the ATF is also very concerned with security. we were lucky that we have a one-way-in building with small windows. the door was steel already and the windows will be barred from the inside (made by me). there are other security measures we have taken, but it's not something you want to reveal . to put it simply, it must be secure and they will want your plan to do so in the paperwork. i just hope we don't loose the keys for some reason! lol

You could use this as the back drop to your label - i am assuming this is a picture of you property? Nice picture - play around with see what you can do.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

i am assuming this is a picture of you property? Nice picture - play around with see what you can do.

yes sir. a view of the valley, but it's off our deck , meaning the winery tasting area will get less of the view, but will have views of hills in two other directions that we don't have. more pics when we get the tasting room up in early spring. we have alot of work to do still!!!!

that is a good idea too. my aunt had said the same exact thing this weekend. use the valley as the background. my parents are concerned it will be too cluttered, so i dunno if it will work. i'll give it a try when i get some time.