Want to become a Winemaker?
2015 has been crazy with opening the winery and the official winemaker program had to be suspended. You should see the launch of the program in 2016 now that we have our act together.
Instead of a full winemaker program, we offer hands on wine making classes which are a great success. You can learn about how the grapes are de-stemmed, crushed, fermented, measured, punched-down, presses, barreled, racked, bottled and finally drank.
Everyone who has attended the winemaker classes has gained a new appreciation and understanding of wine. Once you have experienced the entire process of how wine is made and the choices available to the winemaker, your understanding of wine completely changes. You can now really understand how acids, tannins, color, texture can be changed through the various decisions made during production. You also gain a closer relationship with the wine because you helped bring this product into the world for others to enjoy.
In 2015 we processed over 24,000 pounds of grapes and I want to thank everyone who took the winemaking class. These junior winemakers all received an official CRUSH tee-shirt complete with stains and memories. Be sure to get on our mailing list so that we can notify you about all of the events and happening at Koi Zen Cellars.
Though the 2015 harvest season is soon over, we are still busy at the winery with events, tastings and classes so bring a friend and stop on by. Learn about wine while sipping our hand crafted artisan wines.