Starting a Winery
So you're looking to start a winery in the state of Pennsylvania? This web page provides you with a list of "getting started" resources that are important for you to read through: before, during, and after you get started.
- The Pennsylvania Winery Association (PWA) offers a wide variety of information available to Pennsylvania wineries. Although their focus is assisting pre-existing wineries with marketing and state legislation, they can lead you on the right track.
- Take a winemaking training course at Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC). This is the perfect program for those looking to start/own a winery and be a winemaker or enologist. Plus, all courses are ONLINE and provide practical training! For more information, visit the link above and check out the Enology Program's tech sheet.
- In addition to the federal (TTB) and state (PLCB) licensing requirements all new wineries will also have to obtain a Retail Food Facility License from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA).
- Additionally, there are several resources available that you should consider reading and understanding prior to building, running, and opening a winery. These books primarily focus on commercial winemaking practices, the use of analytical quality control in the winery, proper wine microbiology, and winery economics. Although winemaking can be fun and artistic, there is also a basic science involved that is essential to understand in order to produce high quality wines in Pennsylvania. Here are a few books I recommend:
- Commercial Winemaking, Processing, and Controls by Richard P. Vine. (1981) ISBN: 87055-376-3
- Chemical Analysis of Grapes and Wine: Techniques and Concepts by Patrick Iland, Nick Bruer, Greg Edwards, Sue Weeks, and Eric Wilkes. (2004) ISBN: 0958160511
- Monitoring the Winemaking Process from Grapes to Wine: Techniques and Concepts by Patrick Iland, Nick Bruer, Andrew Ewart, Andrew Markides, and John Sitters. (2004) ISBN: 095816052.
- Microbiological Analysis of Grapes and Wine: Techniques and Concepts by Patrick Iland, Paul Grbin, Martin Grinbergs, Leigh Schmidtke, and Allison Sodin in conjunction with the Interwinery Analysis Group. (2007) ISBN: 0958160544
- How to Launch Your Wine Career: Dream Jobs in America's Hottest Industry by Liz Thatch and Brian D'Emilio. (2009) ISBN: 1934259063
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting and Running a Winery by Thomas Pellechia. (2008) ISBN: 1592578187.
- Review Penn State Food Science's "Starting a Food Business" website. Although this is focused towards other food products, there are some good tips and pointers throughout these pages.
- Of course, if all of this sounds quite time consuming or tiring, there are available resources for home winemaking techniques!
