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Crazy Cat Winery

Dry FinishFor Christmas in 2008 my wife got me a beer and winemaking kit. I made a couple batches of beer and they were, well for a lack of a better word, “off.” I had this black raspberry Merlot wine kit and figured, “Well I got it, might as well give it a try.” Well what do you know, it came out really nice and we finished it off in no time (unlike the beer). So I scrapped beer making and got another wine kit to see if my first try wasn’t just a fluke. Once again, another palatable wine and now I think I’m onto something. I ordered a couple more kits, some extra carboys, and started really getting into this home winemaking endeavor.

It was after three years that my operation started to outgrow my 6 x 10 kitchen and 8 x 12 sunroom. I have plenty of outdoor space but not plenty of money. I started looking at these prefab storage sheds that you “rent to own” and found there were two popular options; metal and wood. Keeping in mind I needed a building in which I could easily install power, plumbing, insulation, wall coverings and flooring; wood was the easy decision. The wood buildings come with wall joists 24 inches on center and, because they are made of wood, installing the insulation and wallboard required just a staple gun. After looking around and considering my budget I settled on a 12 x 12 lofted barn-style shed.

Another beauty of a prefab building is when they deliver it they can park that baby almost anywhere. I picked a spot only a few feet from my well, which made it easy to dig a small trench and run the water and power lines to it through PVC pipe. I didn’t install hot water so in the winter when the water can be a little cooler I just fill a carboy the night before and let it warm up. I fully insulated my “winery,” put up some inexpensive wall paneling and some leftover wood flooring from work and voila!

I was fortunate to have a couple of things donated by a neighbor; a window air conditioner, stainless steel sink/table (while I got it for free, I found a lot on Craigslist) and desk for my computer. I had to spring for some wire metal racks for all my carboys. Then I swiped the deck chairs from the back patio that my wife and I never had time to use anyway and installed a flat screen TV with wireless Internet for, what else, watching winemaking videos. I also got a small heater for the winter which I leave set on 68 °F (20 °C). In the summer I leave the window a/c on at 76 °F (24 °C), and have noticed a much better consistency in my winemaking when the temperatures are not bouncing up and down. The loft is great to store my bottle boxes and other assorted extras.

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I’ve named my home winery Crazy Cat Winery, which came about when I first started making labels for my wine. To make a long story short, we have 25 cats. Yes, I said 25. I looked at all the crazy cat photos I had and thought I must be one “crazy cat” and, well, there you go. Being retired from the Navy, I have plenty of time to make as much wine as I can, or as much as my wallet allows me. At times I have 10+ batches of wine going at the same time. Most of it comes from kits because I prefer the consistency and availability, but I also have a little vineyard where I planted some Suwannee grapes two years ago and last year some Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin, Regent and Barbera grapes to test what will do best in my soil.