The Process

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"When it comes to wine, I tell people to throw away the vintage charts and invest in a corkscrew. The best way to learn about wine is the drinking." - Alexis Lichine

Tom and Nancy Nye invite you to Dayton N.J.'s working winery where you are invited to participate in producing your own premium wine. Grapes are shipped in from Chile and Argentina in the Spring and prestigious regions in Northern California in the Fall.

Only The Grape Escape uses advanced winemaking techniques found in the best wineries in the U.S. For example, you can choose which type of oak barrel to store your wine for aging. We are the only wine school with an Ozone machine for sanitation of our barrels and equipment, ensuring quality winemaking every time. Of course, our popular nitrogen infused bottling process is the only one of its kind in the hands-on winery marketplace, thus ensuring the long term storage of your premium wine.

The Grape Escape offers a unique experience to create your own wine in 4-5 hours of hands on winemaking. The courses are broken into four, 1 hour sessions.

1Crush
Session 1 (1 hour)
Fresh grapes arrive from California or South America, where you will learn how to destem and crush them while starting the primary fermentation. "Grape must" measurement and adjustments will be made.

2Press
Session 2 (1 hour)
7-14 days after primary fermentation begins, you will use a wine press to extract the juices from the "must" and fill oak barrels with your emerging wine.

3Rack
Session 3 (1 hour)
You will learn how to rack your wine and remove lees (sediment) from your barrel. The barrel will then be "topped off."

4Bottling & Label
Session 4 (1 hour)
Congratulations! You may now bottle your wine and affix customized labels.and more importantly, enjoy your fine wine.

The Grape Escape allows you the opportunity to make wine from two exciting regions: Northern California and Chile. Wines from Northern California are celebrated throughout the world and appreciated as one of the preeminent wine regions. We source our grapes from this prestigious region with grapes from the Sierra Foothills, Sonoma County and Napa Valley.

Chile is an emerging wine producing powerhouse due to the deep and earthy texture of its wines and dry climate. The United States is starting to catch up to the rest of the world in its appreciation of Chilean wine.