winery

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

Wine barrels.

A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of tanks known as tank farms.

Purpose

Sherry winery at Jerez de la Frontera

Wineries typically employ winemakers to produce various wines from grapes by following the winemaking process. This process involves the fermentation of fruit, as well as blending and aging of the juice. The grapes may be from vineyards owned by the winery or may be bought in from other locations. Many wineries also give tours and have cellar doors or tasting rooms where customers can taste wines before they make a purchase. Winery architecture is very varied and rich and it is used by wineries as a way to promote their wines and cellar doors.

Types and locations

While most people associate wineries with large winemaking regions such as Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley in California or the legendary wine regions of Italy, wineries can be found nearly everywhere. Wineries do not have to be located adjacent to vineyards; grapes can be shipped anywhere. In addition, people make wine out of other fruits and plants (dandelion wine, apple wine, strawberry wine), so these specialty wineries tend to pop up where the other substances are grown. For example, in Maui, there is a pineapple winery.

Farm wineries

Farm winery vineyard in Napa

In recent years many states in the United States have created a new class of winery license, the farm winery, to allow farms to produce and sell wines on site. Farm wineries differ from commercial wineries in that the fruit which is the source of the wine is usually produced on the farm, and the final product is also sold on the farm. States such as New York have given a special permit to open a satellite store in a tourist area. With New York's passing of the Farm Winery Law of 1976 an example was set for many other states to pass similar laws.

Farm wineries are usually at a much smaller scale than commercial ones. Farm wineries may produce distinctive and very high quality wines. There are highly competitive contests by which wineries can establish prestige by winning in their categories. Farm wineries are a form of value added marketing, also known as agritourism, for farmers who may otherwise be struggling to show a profit.

Winery wastewater

Winery wastewater is primarily generated during the cleaning of winemaking equipment and facilities. The quantity and quality of wastewater shows seasonal variations. Wastewater handling involves collection, possible treatment, then disposal and/or reuse.

Peak wastewater generation occurs during the "crush", in other words, when grapes are actively being processed into juice for fermentation. This process requires large amounts of clean water for washing newly harvested grapes, and results in a high wastewater output. To a lesser degree, wastewater is produced if boilers or water conditioning equipment is used.

See also

• Micro-winery

References