Business

Guests have ‘grape’ time
at wine-making school
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer

DAVE BENJAMIN Dennis Donato fills bottles with his favorite red wine at the Bacchus School of Homemade Wine, Route 33, Manalapan. An open house at the business is scheduled to be held from 2-9 p.m. Aug. 10.

MANALAPAN — Route 33 may soon be known as the Napa Valley of Monmouth County, as the Bacchus School of Homemade Wine enters another bottling season for its varieties of red and white wines.

"All the grapes come from California," said Michael Campisi, who is a co-partner at Bacchus with Michael Gatto. "We don’t use grapes from anywhere else."

Gatto said, "The grapes come in refrigerated trucks in September and are here within five days of being picked. Then it’s six weeks of crushing madness."

More than 100 participants presently attend the school, now in its second year. Instruction covers the steps involved in taking the grape from the vine and ending with a bottle of wine that may have a personalized label.

Some people come to learn how to bottle wine for a special event, while others may use the wine themselves or give its as a gift to clients or relatives.

"Last year we made over 140 barrels," Campisi said. "The cost (to make the wine) is (estimated to be) about $8 to $9 per bottle."

Participants can select their favorite wine from a selection of 25 wines in the Bacchus wine list. The long list of red, red blends, white and white blends, includes Zinfandel, Cabernet, Red Meritage, Brunello, Merlot, Chardonnay, Luna and Pinot Grigio, to name only a few.

In addition to customizing labels for wine bottles, barrels can be customized with the name of an individual or business.

One barrel sitting on a rack carried the name of three people who combined their last names to form the name of their own wine, Shertagno.

"It’s a fun experience," said Campisi. "It’s for families, friends, neighbors, in-laws and outlaws."

Gatto said many people enjoy the social aspect of the wine-making process as well. Some bring platters of food and enjoy the friendship and conversation as they work and learn.

"They’re all nice people," said Gatto. "It’s a lot of fun. There is a common interest, and everybody enjoys themselves."

Campisi explained the bottling process, which is presently being completed by the wine makers.

"We take it from the barrel and filter it," he said.

Dominica Gatto, son of co-owner Michael, explained that the filtering takes out all of the sediment."

"From there it gets pumped into a stainless steel vat, which is up on top," Campisi continued.

While the wine is being pumped into the vat, the bottles are removed from their shipping box, rinsed and sterilized with sulfite and water to remove any germs, and then dried on a bottle tree.

On a recent visit to the business, Dennis Donato, of Interlaken, was busy preparing his bottles to be filled.

"We just squirt the solution from here into the bottle," he said. "It sterilizes it, and (then) we let them drain and dry out."

Donato said he had been involved with the wine- bottling process for seven or eight years.

"It’s very interesting," he said. "Most people that come for dinner prefer this to store bought."

Donato said first-timers are usually concerned with whether their first bottles of wine will be drinkable, and they are surprised to find out that "they’re really very good."

"This year we made a Petite Sirah (red) and a Pinot Grigio (white)," he said.

Also busy preparing his bottles for filling was John Aria, of West Long Branch, who started making wine in 1995.

Aria said he comes in September to crush the grapes. Then the grapes have to ferment for a week. He comes back to press the grapes, and then the liquid goes into the barrel. In January, the wine is taken it out of the barrel. The barrel is rinsed to remove the sediment from the bottom, and then the wine is put back and remains until bottling time.

"Then the wine gets gravity fed from the tank to the bottling machine. Six bottles get filled up at one time," Campisi explained.

From there the bottles are taken to the corking station, where students put the cork into the bottle. Once corked, the students move on to the capsule station.

"They put the capsule on top (of the cork), and they heat the capsule, which shrinks it," said Campisi. "That makes it stay on top of the bottle. It protects the cork. Sort of like a shrink wrap."

Nearing the end of the process, labels are affixed to the bottles.

Co-partner Gatto explained that a person can get about 240 to 250 bottles from each barrel of wine.

Campisi also noted that the school cannot sell the wine.

"You can give it away. It’s all for personal consumption," he said. "You need a license to sell it."

On Aug. 10 from 2-9 p.m. there will be a wine-orientation party when people will be able to come and taste the wines. There will be food and music at no charge. Guests will be able to decide which grapes they would like to pick out for the 2002 crushing season. The Bacchus School of Homemade Wine is at 227 Route 33 east, east of Woodward Road.

The business has an Internet Web site at www.BacchusSchoolOfWine.com.

For more information, call (732) 792-7007.