This authentic, one-of-a-kind adventure lets you experience the joy of making your own wine from berry to bottle without owning your own vineyard or winery. First Crush allows you to experience the thrill of the harvest to the thrill of drinking wine that you helped create.

Harford Vineyard offers two opportunities to craft wine with grapes from two exciting regions: Maryland/California (view price list) in the Fall (Sept-Nov) and Curico Valley in Chile (view price list) in the Spring (Late April - Mid May)!

Most sessions take about 1 hour depending on size of group.

Six Major Steps of Wine Making

Step 1: Pick the type of wine you what to make. - You can do this by phone, on the web or at Harford Vineyard.
Choose from our many varieties (view list) of Chilean, California, or Maryland grape.

Step 2: Crushing and De-stemming - This takes about a one hour visit to Harford Vineyard.
Crush and de-stem the fresh grapes with our equipment and prepare the grape must for primary fermentation.

Step 3: Pressing - When cap drops- Visit about 1-2 hours.
Approximately two weeks after crushing and de-stemming (when the cap drops), come back to press the wine and transfer it into a barrel or stainless steel tank.

Step 4: Racking and Tasting - About 2-3 months after Pressing.
Racking is done by the Harford Vineyard staff. You are not required to come in to do it. We will schedule a tasting for about two - three months after pressing. The process of "racking" consists of pumping your wine into a holding tank, removing the juice from the coarse lees, cleaning your barrel, then returning the racked wine back into your barrel.

Step 5: Designing Your Labels - You can do this at Harford Vineyard or from your computer at home
This should be completed at least 2 months before your bottling date. You can start your private label online at anytime from your home computer or at Harford Vineyard. Visit Private Labels and create user ID and password (uses mail@harfordvineyard as the email not your) and start designing your private labels. We will forward proofs to you for you approval before they go to print.

Step 6: Bottling Your Wine
Ah, the time to taste sweet success. Bottle your wine to take home and enjoy with family and friends. Also, makes a great gift.

We are now reserving barrels for spring 2010 season. This is a great activity for family, friends, weddings, birthdays, corporate events or just for the individual wine lover.