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How to Make Your Own Wine Label

Part of the fun of making your own wine is getting to personalize the wine bottles. But if you’re anything like me and your talent lies more in drinking wine than graphic design, Wine Folly has some great tips on making your own wine labels.

Wine Folly suggests mimicking commercial brand labels. Don’t copy them, but use them as inspiration. Think about the classic designs or the newer, cheeky wine labels. You might go for something old fashioned or modern. Don’t forget the basic information all wine labels should have:  the name and date of the wine, the “brand,” the actual variety or blend of the wine, and credit to the actual winery, wine and vintage.

Wine Folly: Tips on Designing Your Own Custom Wine Labels

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Make Your Own Rhubarb Wine

Blueberries, pomegranates, black cherries and grapes aren’t the only wine varieties. Sometimes a vegetable will work too. Rhubarb might not be the first thing you’d think of for wine, but this sweet plant is perfect for it. And Here We are has a delicious-sounding, easy-to-follow recipe right here: Rhubarb Wine

Warm Weather Wine - Rose

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What does it mean when a wine is “Reserve”?

Sounds like it’s the good and fancy stuff, right? Not exactly, says Anthony Giglio of Details magazine.

When a wine has ‘Reserve” on the label, it might mean that the wine has been aged a specific amount of time depending on the regulations of the wine region. Many wineries added the term to the label if they had produced cheaper wines. However, nowadays “Reserve” is usually just a marketing ploy.

Giglio explains that only Old World, or European, wine regions regulate what can go on wine bottles. New World regions such as the United States, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa do not have systems for those rules and regulations.

Says Giglio: The term is so misused on American bottles that most of the wine critics and sommeliers ignore it unless we know that the producer has a sense of integrity.

 

Details: Ask the Wine Guy: Does “Reserve” Really Signify a Superior Wine Bottle?

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Creating Your Own Wine Cellar

Serious wine drinkers keep their vintages in designated, temperature-controlled places and so should you. Once you have more wine than just the few you bought for a dinner party, and especially when you make your very own, it’s time to make those wines last and age to perfection with your own wine cellar.

But don’t worry — a wine cellar doesn’t have to be subterranean. There’s no need to clean out the cobwebs in your basement if you don’t want to. You don’t need to install an expensive, temperature-controlled vault. And, you don’t even need a large amount of space.  All you need is a designated place in your home that gets no direct sunlight, and stays at a constant and relatively cool temperature. You can even use the back of a closet for a wine rack.

Here are some tips on creating your own wine storage space:

1. Wine doesn’t rot, but if not stored carefully, the taste will, um, not be so great.

2. Store wine in a space not subject to extreme temperatures. So you know, keep wine out of the bathroom, the sun room in July or an igloo in Antarctica. Experts say the best temperature for wine is between 50 F and 65 F.

3. So what’s the deal with humidity? Some humidity is good because it keeps the corks from drying out. You also want to protect labels from peeling or drying out so 30 years from now that vintage will look as lovely as ever. If possible, a place where humidity is between 50 and 80 percent works best.

4. Wine racks are good as long as you keep wines on their sides to keep the corks wet and to prevent too much oxygen from getting into the bottle.

5. How you organize your bottles and where you end up keeping them really depends on your favorite wines. Personally, I’m a bit of a Riesling snob. Rieslings need to be kept at cooler temperatures, so you might want to keep those on hand in a wine cooler stored in your kitchen — or by the couch. It’s wherever you need your wine.

6. If you’re looking for wine racks, we have some great deals right now at Lakeland Winery. Hint hint: A wine rack makes for an excellent holiday gift. Contact Christina at Christina@lakelandwinery.com for more details or just come to the winery.

 

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Make Your Holiday Wine Now at Lakeland Winery

Okay, so it’s not even Halloween yet, but you can get all of your holiday shopping done early this year by making your holiday wine now at Lakeland Winery.

It takes seven weeks for the wine to ferment, so if you make your wine by November 3, you can have wine gifts for friends, family and coworkers done in time for the holidays. No last minute shopping!

Read up on our custom winemaking process here.

Book your winemaking appointment here.