WEDDING WINE FAQ

What will it cost ?

Answer:
The price varies depending on the amount of wine you want to make, what quality of kit you will use and whether you will make it at home or in our store. If you make it at B&B Winemaking, there is a $42.50 equipment charge, which will also cover the cost of the new synthetic corks. These will make sure your wine won't have a bad off-taste on the day of the wedding.

If it for wedding we provide free bottles and custom labels when you make wine with us. This means you will have nice looking wine bottles on the tables and we have such an assortment of fantastic labels we should be able to find one that will go with your wedding colours. This will save you over $35.00. If you have your own bottles, we can give a discount on the equipment charge instead.

What it comes down to is that you should be able to make great wine for your wedding, for as little as $110.00 for 30 bottles, depending on the colour, variety and quality of the kit. This includes the cost of the taxes.

You get what you pay for with either wine made in a store or buying commercial wine, but you don't have to go broke doing either. Some people make the mistake though of spending $10 to $20 a plate for the meal and 50 cents a glass for the wine. This usually happens when they have a friend or relative offer to make the wine for them.

I am not saying don't go this route, as there are a number of home winemakers that make excellent wine. All I am saying is to be careful as you could end up with paint stripper. It is not a case of me being snobbish, but rather people are spending $30 to $40 on a kit that has very little varietal juice and concentrate in it. Consider that cheapest eating grapes cost at least $1.50 a pound and it takes at least 100 pounds of grapes to make five gallons of wine. The grapes in that wine kit are worth only 30 to 40 cents a pound.

The best way to avoid this is to ask the person who offered to make you wine to let you have a sample of what he/she makes. so that you can take it home and try it with a meal. If you don't know that much about wine, have a friend that know wine, taste it for you. Instead of telling the person you don't want him to make the wine, check around and find a kit you like and tell him you will buy the kit as it is your favorite wine. Tact is really needed in these family situations and the person offering to provide the wine means well.

 

When is the best time to make wine for a wedding?

The most important piece of advice though, is to make sure you allow at least 3 months for your wedding wines to age in your home before the big day!

What do I need to do to make wine for a wedding ?

Answer:
First make sure it is legal to serve the wine at the function. The law in Ontario says you can't serve this type of wine at any function where you need a special occasion liquor license. You can make wine that you give to guests at the function, but they have to take it home to drink it. You can also serve this type of wine at a reception in your own home. If you live in a complex that has a club house, this is usually considered part of your home. As for facilities on first nations land, you will have to check into that.

But we don't know that much about wine, so what can you suggest ?

Answer:
With weddings you have to decide on which wines will appeal to the most people possible, and that might not be your favorite wine, but rather just a good, all around table wine. The wine should be fruity and slightly off-dry and if it is a red, it should be soft and fruity, not big and bold with lots of tannins. The red could also be slightly off-dry so that more people will enjoy it. You need to know your guest's wine tastes really well to go into some of the more powerful wines. There are a number of great kit wines that we could suggest, as they have been big hits at weddings over the past few years. They are middle of the road in flavors, fragrance and body, but they will be enjoyable wines for a majority of your guests, even those who are very sophisticated when it comes to wines.When you come into B&B Winemaking, our Staff can assist you to what the most popular wines are. They tend to change each year or two. But we know people that have served this kind of wine at wedding in hotels and community halls. Are you sure I can't legal do that ?Answer:They likely didn't tell the person running the facility or issuing the license what type of wine was being served or the person running the facility just turned a blind eye to what is going on. Just remember that it is you that is your responsibility if a problem develops and you could find yourself on the day of the wedding having to order thousands of dollars of wine from the liquor store. That is why we explain the rules, as we would rather have you buy commercial wine and us lose a sale, than have your wedding ruined. The best thing to do is make sure you have asked all the right questions from the people running the facility.

But we know people that have served this kind of wine at wedding in hotels and community halls. Are you sure I can't legal do that ?

Answer:
They likely didn't tell the person running the facility or issuing the license what type of wine was being served or the person running the facility just turned a blind eye to what is going on. Just remember that it is you that is your responsibility if a problem develops and you could find yourself on the day of the wedding having to order thousands of dollars of wine from the liquor store. That is why we explain the rules, as we would rather have you buy commercial wine and us lose a sale, than have your wedding ruined. The best thing to do is make sure you have asked all the right questions from the people running the facility.