I am documenting my growth in what I hope will lead me to start my own business of selling cider and fruit wine.
The idea was a slow growing one. I was raised on a farm, but went to live and work in the city. The recession was coming on, and I’m always looking for ways to do things myself to save a buck. You know, go back to the basics. I moved in with my boyfriend in a house in the suburbs, and finally got to grow a garden. After my boyfriend was upgraded to fiancé, we went to a local distillery, and I was really impressed, thinking, this would be awesome to do myself, but I didn’t really do anything about it. However, there was a man in our tour group who said he had brewed cider, and I thought that would be a better starting point since my parents have six apple trees on their property. Free material source!
I got a hold of some books on cider and started reading them on my honeymoon since I now had time with the wedding being over. I was strictly thinking of doing it as a hobby at this point. There was one day, however, where I was jealous of my husband’s summers off from teaching, and the increased recession fears I was going to be laid off. This idea of having a winery suddenly popped into my head, and I’ve kind of obsessed with the idea since, knowing that I still wouldn’t get summers off.
My winery would not sell grape wine because that can be found anywhere. Instead, I draw my inspiration from Shallon Winery in Astoria, OR. It is run by an old gentleman who makes the most wonderful fruit wines, including a cranberry whey wine and a chocolate orange wine. One time I when I was there, before I had my business idea, I asked what would happen upon his death, as it would be a terrible thing to lose his recipes. Now I hope that I could purchase at least the cranberry whey wine recipe from him.
I hope you will watch as I try to turn this little hobby into a business.
The Candle Wine Project 
June 15, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Wow, sounds fantastic! Good luck with it! You should advertise with other blogs to get the word out there.
Rachel
January 12, 2011 at 12:42 am
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June 21, 2011 at 1:52 pm
I am looking for history of fruit wines other than cider. Do you have any ideas about where to find that?
December 31, 2011 at 9:38 am
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April 24, 2012 at 9:27 am
Sounds great! Can’t wait to see it come to “fruition”
December 31, 2012 at 6:45 am
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January 15, 2013 at 7:26 pm
It is cool that you have an interest in these things. I do as well and i am also thinking about about turning wine,beer, and ale making into a small bussiness here where I live. I imagine you need a licence to sell your own brands of alcohol though. It would be interesting if you could write something on that subject. I would definitely find it a good read. Btw I liked what you wrote about the dangers of fermenting apples, I found it extremely helpful. The dangers of fermenting fresh fruit juice is something I’ve been trying to research and I couldn’t find a thing on it until now
January 29, 2013 at 3:31 pm
Your passion will take you far!! It’s always the best place to start. Keep the end in mind, enjoy the journey and the rest will take care of itself. I look forward to following your progress! Good luck!
November 7, 2013 at 7:13 am
Wishing you well! I’m expanding what I do and how I do it, so please ask for videos that come to mind. For example, I’ve fastened the tray support to the bottom truss of the press to keep it steady. (Big help). Other stuff begging for videos…
Al Yelvington
February 27, 2014 at 12:04 am
I was inspired by Shallon Winery, too, and actually found your WordPress while looking for information on fermenting whey.
I’m quite please with a cider that I made using a tip he gave me a number of years back but I’m looking to incorporate whey into my humble little home operation.
I saw in one of your posts that you’ve made a whey wine. How did it turn out and do you have a recipe or some guidelines to recommend?
Thank you
March 2, 2014 at 6:12 pm
Hi, Take a look at my cider maps and let me know what you think. Thanks, Greg Thorhaug (North Idaho Cider, LLC)
http://northidahocider.com/maps.html