Discover

Everyone knows the Gulfshore is a wine-lover’s paradise, but did you know locals can make their own wines right here? If you’ve ever dreamt of having your own private-house label, check out the winemaking program at Time to Make Wine in Cape Coral.

Each session begins with a wine tasting in the Time to Make Wine café. From chardonnay sémillon to port, more than 100 wines are offered for sampling and crafting. When aspiring vintners settle on their grape of choice, they are escorted to a back room chemistry lab where the wines are concocted.

Each kit, which ranges from $140 to $240, comes with all of the wine’s raw materials: juice, yeast (for kick-starting fermentation), bentonite (a clearing agent) and—if an oak flavor is desired—wood chips. The Time to Make Wine staff assists eager winemakers as they mix and test their creations.

Time to Make Wine ages the mixtures on-premises for a few weeks. Once the primary fermentation is done, clients come back for bottling.

Each kit yields six gallons, or about two and a half cases of wine. If they can stand to wait, winemakers are encouraged to let their personal vintages age for another year at home.

The final product is not only as good as many of the wines you find in the store, but imagine how snazzy you’ll feel saying, "You like that wine? Yes, well, I made it myself."

Time to Make Wine, 912 S.E. 46th Lane, Cape Coral, (239) 542-9463, www.timetomakewine.com.

—Sammy Mack