A Sense of Wine is Wine Sense's journal of new products, techniques and behind the scenes info for those who love to make wine. The authors are the Wine Sense staff. You will be familiar with them as the friendly faces that serve you whenever you stop by one of the stores. Join us as we share our insights on new procucts, advice and our experiences. Please feel free to comment on any posts- we look forward to your input!
Wow- It’s been a loooong time since our last post. A lot has gone on since 2015 when the Provincial Government allowed On-Site Winemaking in Manitoba. We were the second last province Canada to allow it (only Alberta remains) and it came as a pleasant surprise so there was lots of work to do.
We used to just have shelves of wine kits- now we have shelves of wine too!
But in that time we:
-Converted 3 of our existing stores to accommodate In-store Wineries and Bottling Stations.
-Doubled the size of our Portage Avenue location and added an In-Store Winery.
-Relocated our Springfield Road store to a larger location at Kildonan Crossing (located at the North West corner of Regent and Lagimodiere) to accommodate On-Site Winemaking.
-Relocated our Pembina Highway location to a larger location at 827 Dakota Street (across from St.Vital Center) to accommodate On-Site Winemaking.
-We’ve doubled the number of staff (and that number is still growing) we employ and have trained all staff regarding this exciting new aspect of our business…
…and made over 400,000 bottles of wine!
We’ve had excellent support from Global Vintners Inc. GVI is the Wine Kit division of Andrew Peller Limited Canada’s largest Canadian owned winemaker and the manufacturer of our wine kits. So we’re had lots of knowledge and guidance to help us along the way.
And with that we are pleased to say we have a customer satisfaction rate of over 99% for the wine we are making for our customers!
So with the excitement out of the way we will once again be more regular with our Blog postings- as we were in the past.
-From Shiraz to Chardonnay, you choose from our vast array of award winning wines.
-You pay for your wine kit and Winery Service while we quickly prep your wine for you in our In-Store Winery facility and you pitch (add) the yeast into the wine… then we do the rest, including filtering your wine!
-You come back when your wine is ready and bottle your wine using our winery grade Bottle Washers, Bottle Fillers and Corkers… it’s that easy!
-All you need to provide is the bottles- everything else is included!
-You save more than 50% off the price of commercial wine!
On-Site Winery Fees:
Basic- Includes On-Site Winery Service, Use of Bottling Equipment and 30 Regular Corks… Only $49.99
Intermediate– Includes On-Site Winery Service, Use of Bottling Equipment and 30 Nomacorc Synthetic Corks for extended storage… Only $54.99
Deluxe- Includes On-Site Winery Service, Use of Bottling Equipment, 30 Nomacorc Synthetic Corks for extended storage and 30 Custom Wine Bottle Labels… Only $59.99
Check out the Video to see how Fun, Fast and Easy it is!
Wine kit Medals won at the Winemaker Magazine international Competition. Winery Fee is a separate fee from the wine kit you choose.
Our 5th Wine Sense On-Site Winery is now open at our new Kildonan Crossing store! (recently re-located Springfield Rd)
The New Kildonan Crossing location is about 70% larger than the Springfield Road location. It’s conveniently located in the Kildonan Crossing shopping mall at the North West corner of Regent and Lagimodiere (we’re next to the Dollar Tree).
It has a larger sales floor than the old Springfield store and has about 1000 square foot on the Winery side. The Winery features brand new welded, vinyl flooring for easy cleaning and like our other locations nickel plated, stainless, wire shelving for easy cleaning. The Wire shelving also ensures that there is adequate air flow through the whole winery without cold or warm spots. This means better wine for you.
All of our wineries feature stainless steel 3 compartment sinks for cleaning and triple cartridge water filters for consistent water quality for winemaking.
Like our other wineries it now has a Bottle Washer that does 30 bottles at a time. Quick and convenient for both home winemakers or Winery winemakers! Our Springfield Rd customers have been patiently waiting for an Automatic Bottle Washer (there was no room at the old location).
All of our Wineries are run with our custom made Winery App. When you make your kit purchase to be made in our Wineries your wine kit is scanned into the Wine Sense Winery App, bar coded and is tracked from start to finish. All actions that are taken on your wine are tracked on iPads and the winery workers involved in the production are recorded. Your Bottling Appointment is recorded in the App and it even sends you an email to confirm your bottling appointment!
For the customer- you get to use our Automatic 2 Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic Corkers and our Heat Shrinkers which very quickly heat the Shrink Top onto your bottles. To clean your bottles you get to use our Automatic Bottle Washers which will do 30 bottles at a time- it doesn’t get any easier! Check out the videos below to see how easy it is!
2 Head Automatic Bottle Filler, Pneumatic Corker, Label Cradle and Shrink Top Heater.
What is On-Site Winemaking?
Also known as U-Vint, U-Brew and Wine-On-Premise, ‘On-Site’ Winemaking has been allowed in all provinces (except Manitoba and Alberta) for as long as 20 years. Now Manitobans get to join in the fun!
It’s a big change for our industry- in provinces like Ontario and B.C. where they have offered the service for almost 20 years- the vast majority of wine is made at stores with very little being made at home.
Simply put we do most of the work for you in our stores…
-You choose and pay for your wine.
-We quickly prep it for you in our In-Store Winery facility.
-You pitch (add) the yeast.
-We ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine in our In-Store Winery.
-You come back when the wine is ready and bottle your wine using our Winery Bottle Washers, Bottle Fillers and Corkers.
You don’t have to worry about the heavy lifting or any of the clean-up!
Wines clearing at our McPhillips St On-Site Winery!
It’s a great service for those with space or time limitations, people who have trouble lifting the kits and carboys or for those who don’t want to make the ‘commitment’ to buy equipment. You can buy one kit and have it made for you in our winery and still save a great deal of money over the commercial price. 28-30 bottles of our best wine can be had for about $200!
How much does it cost?
We have three options:
Basic- Includes our In-Store Winery Service where we ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine, the use of our Automatic Bottle Washer to clean and sanitize your bottles, our automatic Electric 2-Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic automatic Corkers and 30 regular corks for only $49.99.
Intermediate- Includes our In-Store Winery Service where we ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine, the use of our Automatic Bottle Washer to clean and sanitize your bottles, our automatic Electric 2-Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic automatic Corkers and 30 Nomacorc synthetic corks for long term storage for only $54.99.
Deluxe- Includes our In-Store Winery Service where we ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine, the use of our Automatic Bottle Washer to clean and sanitize your bottles, our automatic Electric 2-Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic automatic Corkers and 30 Nomacorc synthetic corks for long term storage and 30 Custom Wine Labels for only $59.99.
How does it work?
Check out these videos shot in June when City TV came by our Southdale Square location to see what was coming:
The third and fourth Wine Sense On-Site Wineries are now open at our Portage Avenue and Southdale Square locations! They join our McPhillips St and Brandon locations as we continue to convert our stores so we can offer this great service to you!
Southdale Square customers have been patiently waiting as what
we thought would be our first store to convert has ended up being the fourth as we navigated the city permit process. But it’s ready to go with a nickel wire racking in our Winery, a triple cartridge water filter and a 3 compartment stainless steel sink.
If you’ve been in our Portage Avenue location recently you’ve no doubt noticed the work going on. We’ve doubled the size of our store which now includes an expanded retail side to accommodate the bottling station for customers to bottle their wines at and we’ve also added a 1000 square foot winery! The winery side has brand new welded, vinyl flooring for easy cleaning and like our other locations nickel plated, stainless, wire shelving for easy cleaning, a stainless steel 3 compartment sink and a triple cartridge water filter for consistent water quality for winemaking.
All of our Wineries are run with our custom made Winery App. When you make your kit purchase to be made in our Wineries your wine kit is scanned into the Wine Sense Winery App, bar coded and is tracked from start to finish. All actions that are taken on your wine are tracked on iPads and the winery workers involved in the production are recorded. Your Bottling Appointment is recorded in the App and it even sends you an email to confirm your bottling appointment!
We’ve also added a Training Center at our Portage Avenue location for staff meetings and training sessions so our staff are always well trained and up to date on recent developments and trends.
For the customer- you get to use our Automatic 2 Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic Corkers and our Heat Shrinkers which very quickly heat the Shrink Top onto your bottles. To clean your bottles you get to use our Automatic Bottle Washers which will do 30 bottles at a time- it doesn’t get any easier! Check out the videos below to see how easy it is!
What is On-Site Winemaking?
Also known as U-Vint, U-Brew and Wine-On-Premise, ‘On-Site’ Winemaking has been allowed in all provinces (except Manitoba and Alberta) for as long as 20 years. Now Manitobans get to join in the fun!
It’s a big change for our industry- in provinces like Ontario and B.C. where they have offered the service for almost 20 years- the vast majority of wine is made at stores with very little being made at home.
Simply put we do most of the work for you in our stores…
-You choose and pay for your wine.
-We quickly prep it for you in our In-Store Winery facility.
-You pitch (add) the yeast.
-We ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine in our In-Store Winery.
-You come back when the wine is ready and bottle your wine using our Winery Bottle Washers, Bottle Fillers and Corkers.
You don’t have to worry about the heavy lifting or any of the clean-up!
Wines clearing at our McPhillips St On-Site Winery!
It’s a great service for those with space or time limitations, people who have trouble lifting the kits and carboys or for those who don’t want to make the ‘commitment’ to buy equipment. You can buy one kit and have it made for you in our winery and still save a great deal of money over the commercial price. 30 bottles of our best wine can be had for about $200!
How much does it cost?
We have three options:
Basic- Includes our In-Store Winery Service where we ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine, the use of our Automatic Bottle Washer to clean and sanitize your bottles, our automatic Electric 2-Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic automatic Corkers and 30 regular corks for only $49.99.
Intermediate- Includes our In-Store Winery Service where we ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine, the use of our Automatic Bottle Washer to clean and sanitize your bottles, our automatic Electric 2-Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic automatic Corkers and 30 Nomacorc synthetic corks for long term storage for only $54.99.
Deluxe- Includes our In-Store Winery Service where we ferment, degas, stabilize and filter your wine, the use of our Automatic Bottle Washer to clean and sanitize your bottles, our automatic Electric 2-Head Bottle Fillers, our Pneumatic automatic Corkers and 30 Nomacorc synthetic corks for long term storage and 30 Custom Wine Labels for only $59.99.
How does it work?
Check out these videos shot in June when City TV came by to visit us to see what was coming:
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