Where can we buy fresh grapes for red wine making?

[Musissa]

Hello,

We would like to buy fresh grapes for making our own red wine. We have equipment and want to practice before our own grape vines start producing enough. We are in Utah not far from Salt Lake City and are willing to drive in any direction up to 300 miles in order to pick up grapes ourselves or have them delivered to our home. My husband is a big fan of Cabernet Sauvignon but will make and drink any blend of suitable grapes. I/G Winery in Cedar City, UT makes wine called 9 Barrels Red Blend from the following varieties Merlot, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, and Pinot Noir 9 BARRELS RED BLEND – I/G Winery (igwinery.com). We just want to practice making our own wine. I am going to contact Chanela Vineyards, they own and manage the Twin Peaks vineyard at Chanela Farms, Southern Utah. I/G Winery is buying their Utah grown grapes from them too. Hoping they could sell us some of their crop in addition to 3-4 cases of fine red wine Our Wines – Chanela Vineyards. But we also would like to buy grapes for red wine making from anyone who lives not far from us (up to 300 miles away) and has some extra crop. Please help!

We decided to get rid of our Eastern Concord after harvesting grapes (we have a single vine), keep 2 vines of Isabella (they have sentimental value) and plant more Cabernet Sauvignon next spring for my husband and some other interesting varieties for me. This fall we are planning to start making our own blend from our home-grown Cab Sauvignon, Cab Franc and Frontenac. But we definitely need much more fresh grapes since we want to make more than 2-3 bottles of red wine. I know about the possibility of buying kit, juice or frozen must, but since it is almost the time to harvest new crops, we would like to try to get fresh grapes first. Thank you so much for any advice or any shared wisdom!

 

[Musissa]

I just found this source. https://www.baywinebrokers.com/ May be the one of the best options for us. But we also would LOVE to buy fresh Utah grown grapes.

 

[anthocyanin]

Craigslist is a good place to find local grapes, though UT is not a big winegrowing region so it may be challenging to find vineyards. Out of curiosity I just searched SLC craigslist and found one source selling only 60 lb of Cab Sauv in Grand Junction CO. 60 lb would only net you about 3-4 gallons of wine so may not be worth it depending on your driving distance.

Your other option is reaching out directly to vineyards and asking if they have any extra grapes they could sell you. Most will say no (or ghost you) but you could get lucky.

 

[Musissa]

Craigslist is a good place to find local grapes, though UT is not a big winegrowing region so it may be challenging to find vineyards. Out of curiosity I just searched SLC craigslist and found one source selling only 60 lb of Cab Sauv in Grand Junction CO. 60 lb would only net you about 3-4 gallons of wine so may not be worth it depending on your driving distance.

Your other option is reaching out directly to vineyards and asking if they have any extra grapes they could sell you. Most will say no (or ghost you) but you could get lucky.

Thank you so much! I am going to call local vineyards of course. We are looking for 120-150 lbs. of fresh grapes only since it is our first time making wine from grapes using proper equipment, yeast and some chemicals. Last fall we bought 5 gal of Cab Sauvignon juice from Double A and got 26 bottles. I will check Craiglist, thank you for the idea. We have a young German Shepherd who is travelling with us everywhere, but there are 4 cats and one of them is very old and sick. That's why we can't leave them (cats) for longer than 7-8 hours. Otherwise, we would love to go on 3-4 days trip, check vineries, talk to people and get enough grapes.

 

[Ohio Bob]

If you have vineyards nearby, reach out to them about volunteering to help during harvest season. It would be good experience, gaining helpful tips, knowing what to do and not to do, etc. in exchange they may be willing to sell you fruit at a discount, or at least ensure you get something.

 

[Musissa]

If you have vineyards nearby, reach out to them about volunteering to help during harvest season. It would be good experience, gaining helpful tips, knowing what to do and not to do, etc. in exchange they may be willing to sell you fruit at a discount, or at least ensure you get something.

Great idea, thank you!

 

[ovjock]

Online I found a list of all the wineries in an area I like and sent out 33 emails. I asked if they would be willing to sell to a hobbyist. I got 5 of them to respond. A couple of them have become a regular yearly event for me.
You have to make it easy for them to do business with you. Offer to help with the harvest. Offer to pick grapes when the migrant pickers are not there. Insist that you will leave the place spotless. Offer to share your wine with them. You get the idea.
Many of these growers were hobbyist once. They will relate to you.

 

[Paulie vino]

You can try reaching out to these companies. They ship grapes to the East Coast and may have distribution in your area as well.

https://www.deltapacking.com/faqs

https://www.dpenterpriseslp.com/papagnifruitproducts.html

 

[Musissa]

Online I found a list of all the wineries in an area I like and sent out 33 emails. I asked if they would be willing to sell to a hobbyist. I got 5 of them to respond. A couple of them have become a regular yearly event for me.
You have to make it easy for them to do business with you. Offer to help with the harvest. Offer to pick grapes when the migrant pickers are not there. Insist that you will leave the place spotless. Offer to share your wine with them. You get the idea.
Many of these growers were hobbyist once. They will relate to you.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience and ideas! We don't have many vineries nearby, but I hope some of them (like one or two) will trust me and allow to volunteer for them. And learn a lot!

My husband decided to buy 200lbs of Cabernet Sauvignon from Livermore, CA at the time when we are ready to harvest our grapes (they ship fresh grapes from September to November each year). $1.00 per pound. With UPS 2nd Day Air shipping to our area, it will cost us a little more than $500. We will be able to make 52+ bottles out of them. We usually pay $25+ per bottle here in Utah stores or $1300+ per 52 bottles. We both think we are going to save a lot of money!!!

 

[Musissa]

You can try reaching out to these companies. They ship grapes to the East Coast and may have distribution in your area as well.

https://www.deltapacking.com/faqs

https://www.dpenterpriseslp.com/papagnifruitproducts.html

Thank you, a very useful information!

 

[anthocyanin]

We both think we are going to save a lot of money!!!

You think that.. until you start buying more carboys, fermenting buckets, pH and SO2 testing, bottles, transfer pump, floor corker, press, etc etc

This will be my second year of making wine from fresh grapes (I made maybe a cumulative 75 bottles or so of fruit wines from store-bought juices and frozen berries before that) and *maybe* I'll have broke even by the end of this season, considering if all goes well I'll have 130 bottles or so for an ingredient cost of ~$4/bottle

 

[Musissa]

You think that.. until you start buying more carboys, fermenting buckets, pH and SO2 testing, bottles, transfer pump, floor corker, press, etc etc

This will be my second year of making wine from fresh grapes (I made maybe a cumulative 75 bottles or so of fruit wines from store-bought juices and frozen berries before that) and *maybe* I'll have broke even by the end of this season, considering if all goes well I'll have 130 bottles or so for an ingredient cost of ~$4/bottle

We actually need 2 more 6 gallons carboys now. They were available yesterday here https://www.grapemust.com/product/f...s-carboy-rubber-stoppers-twin-bubble-airlock/ but my husband missed them. I have to look somewhere else for them. Another $200

 

[ovjock]

We actually need 2 more 6 gallons carboys now. They were available yesterday here https://www.grapemust.com/product/f...s-carboy-rubber-stoppers-twin-bubble-airlock/ but my husband missed them. I have to look somewhere else for them. Another $200

Craigslist and FB marketplace almost always have carboys in the $25-30 range. Also, if it were me, I would insist on Italian carboys if you are going glass. They should be marked on the bottom. Avoid the glass Mexican/Chinese junk.

 

[Musissa]

Craigslist and FB marketplace almost always have carboys in the $25-30 range. Also, if it were me, I would insist on Italian carboys if you are going glass. They should be marked on the bottom. Avoid the glass Mexican/Chinese junk.

Thank you so much! Will be looking for Italian glass for sure. We have and used 2 Italian 5 gallons carboys, but now need more of big ones.

 

[winemaker81]

Something to keep in mind is that most of the hardware purchased is reusable for years. A lot of my hardware was purchased circa 1990.

But things do get broken or wear out. One of my original fermenters (24 gallon?) spent a couple of decades in my attic. I needed it about 5 years ago and put it in the truck to go get grapes. Taking it out of the truck, I lost grip and dropped it onto concrete, and it literally exploded. The plastic became brittle with age, and my attic in NC in the summer approaches the temperature of Mercury, which is not good for plastic, either.

The arrow indicates the original height of the fermenter.

 

[Musissa]

Something to keep in mind is that most of the hardware purchased is reusable for years. A lot of my hardware was purchased circa 1990.

But things do get broken or wear out. One of my original fermenters (24 gallon?) spent a couple of decades in my attic. I needed it about 5 years ago and put it in the truck to go get grapes. Taking it out of the truck, I lost grip and dropped it onto concrete, and it literally exploded. The plastic became brittle with age, and my attic in NC in the summer approaches the temperature of Mercury, which is not good for plastic, either.

The arrow indicates the original height of the fermenter.

You are right, plastic doesn't like hot sun, attics, garages and sheds. I hide my gardening equipment away from direct sun, in shady areas outdoors. There were several disasters, so I learned my lessons the hard way too.

We lived in Raleigh, NC for 4.5 years (6 years for my husband), June 1, 1998 - Dec. 21, 2002. He graduated from NCSU, and we lived not far from the University campus. I got my first small patch of land there for gardening, but didn't grow grapevines. Fishing on Falls Lake was a lot of fun, we ate our fish and drunk cheap red wines from Food Lion and Harris Teeter . Our best years and happiest times! You have hot and humid summers.

 

[winemaker81]

You have hot and humid summers.

This year hasn't been bad. The humidity has only been 300% ....