DIY Wine

There's an excellent article on Gourmet Magazine's website about one writers journey into the world of DIY wine making. The premise of the story: Why spend so much money on a single bottle of local wine when you can put forth the same amount of money for 30 vines of your own? Unfortunately, the articlle doesn't give the play-by-play insight I normally look for in this type of feature, but it does raise a few interesting points. For instance:

- Pennsylvania is eighth in the nation for wine production

- A bottle of 1997 Blanc de Blancs goes for a whopping $2,500.

- You can start a mini-vineyard for about the same cost as the formely mentioned bottle

- Farming grapes is a lot harder than you might imagine