Make Your Own Wine, Minus the Vine

One of Judd Finkelstein's favorite things about being a winemaker at
his family's Napa Valley winery is getting his hands dirty, whether
that means picking the grapes, punching down the cap or working with
the barrels. But being a winemaker these days doesn't always mean
attentively tending to a vineyard -- or even being in the same state
where your wine is produced.

In addition to Judd's Hill Winery, which produces fewer than 3,000 cases of wine per year, the Finkelstein family also owns Judd's Hill MicroCrush,
a custom crush facility that helps about 100 clients make their own
wine. They'll do everything, including sourcing the grapes from Napa
Valley vineyards, designing the label and bottling the vintage.

In fact, Finkelstein says some longtime clients have never
visited the winery. But he also has a client from North Carolina who'll
fly to California with 48 hours' notice during harvest season, arriving
in the "pre-dawn darkness with picking shears in hand."

"People have a passion for the art of winemaking and want to
be involved in the process," Finkelstein says. Virtual winemaking --
making wine without owning a crushing facility -- has become a popular
alternative. As of November 2006, there were 5,970 wineries in the
U.S., with 1,587 of those being virtual wineries, according to Wine Business Monthly.
And Provina's $3,499 egg-shaped WinePod, which allows enthusiasts to
make wine in their homes, is a bestseller. The 2006 model sold out, and
there's a waiting list for the 2007 version.

Alternatives like these are turning winemaking into a more
accessible process for Americans, who are embracing wine. "People are
realizing it's pretty easy to do," says Paul Beveridge, a lawyer who
also has been making wine for the past 19 years and teaches a course on
winemaking for busy professionals. "It's like any other art form; you
can make it as complicated as you want."