F.A.Q.

The Village Winery Club (VWc) is an Urban Winery located in the heart of Alphabet City in the East Village of Manhattan and operates as a Micro-Winery focused on the education and experience of small production, hand-made wine that you can call your very own.

There are several steps required to be taken to ensure a correct and consistent product:

The Crush*– Each vintage starts with The Crush where grapes brought in from all over the world and California are dropped off on our side walk twice a year. The winemaking process starts by machine crushing and de-stemming the grapes creating the must.

Primary Fermentation – Wild yeast is neutralized and cultivated yeast is added to the must to start the fermentation process which typically completes 7-14 days after the crush. Hand punch-downs are performed 2-3 times daily, nutrients are added, and temperature is controlled to ensure fermentation is consistent, timely and as expected… we wish.

The Press* – Following primary fermentation to the desired sugar levels we’ll squeeze the last drops of wine from the must. The baby wine goes into a temporary holding tank and the skins get recycled on Monday and Wednesday after 5pm on the sidewalk by the sanitation

Secondary Fermentation – Following the press we place the wine in a temporary staging container for a few days start the process of malolactic fermentation and rack the first heavy sediment that will fall to the bottom. Malo converts the aggressive and more pronounced malic acid to softer lactic acid. Malo is not performed in white wines but has become a good habit for making reds.

Racking and Filtering* – Following the second fermentation 30-45 days after the press the wine has separated from the sediment that has collected at the bottom of the barrel and needs to be removed, barrel cleaned, returned and topped off.

Bottling* – the easiest activity to explain. When the wine is mature and ready to drink the final step is the corking event where the assembly line is urban efficient all the way down to the labels and neck caps. You can take your wine home from here, but its not advised to drink it for at least 6 months.

Education, Wine, or Education+Wine simply put

VWc Discounts; 10% for Education, 15% for Club, 20% for Shareholder

First access to VWc Special Events and Seasonal Gifts

The four main events in a vintage including the grape crush (yes you can stomp on the fruit), the press, racking and filtering, and bottling. Typically the VWc does 2 vintages per year that coincide with the harvest times in North and South America. Between events updates on wine progress are posted online.

For the Education and Shareholder Packages that’s at least 8 events per year to attend to taste and learn how each step is necessary to the maturity of consistent, low production, high quality wine.

The VWc Memberships are for all types of people over the age of 21.There are three membership types. The Education Package teaches urban winemaking with hands on learning and tasting for 12 months of date of purchase. The Club Package is for those who want to purchase the fruit of others’ labors with the patience to know that quality takes time. The Shareholder Package allows for both the hands on education and the ownership of your own wine.

Club and Shareholder Packages’ typical barrel and bottle aging period is 12-15 months at minimum for oak aged red wine. White wine is typically shorter if made in stainless tanks. The membership is still active until the entire vintage is made in full. During those times discounts on past vintage wines will exist.

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