Carafe in the Old Town Crier

So You Wanna Be A Vintner?

Have you ever wanted to own a vineyard? Do you get a kick out of the idea of YOUR name on the label of a wine bottle? Do you feel like an amateur when it comes to understanding the difference between light and dry, full bodied versus medium bodied, oakey, rich? Well, now you don’t have to speak wine to make it. Carafe Wine Makers, a franchise micro-winery opportunity that started in Canada, is now in the area!

Carafe Wine Makers is located in Old Town, Alexandria, on Alfred Street, in a classic building that has been recently remodeled to meet the needs of the creation of wine. Customers can stop in for a tasting, purchase a bottle or two, or get busy and make their own wine for what works out to be only about six to nine dollars a bottle! Lamar Brown, owner, operator, and wine-lover, will walk you through the steps and define the adjectives commonly used to describe vino; by the end of the visit, you will feel like a wine connoisseur.

So, how do you make wine? From a high-level perspective, it is a six week process that starts with juice from grapes that is shipped in from various areas of the globe like Australia, Italy, Spain, and Argentina. Ingredients are added based on the type of wine desired, the concoction ferments for two weeks, gets filtered, and (in non-technical terms), settles for several more. When customers return, they bottle, label, cork, and seal their creations. Each bottle gets better and better as time goes on.

We all know that good wine takes patience. It takes time to make it, it takes time for it to age, and it should be enjoyed sip by sip. Lamar has a definite appreciation for the value of time. Carafe Wine Makers is his hobby. He stays busy at his day job focusing on IT security for Lockheed Martin, and spends a great deal of time driving back and forth from his home in Woodbridge to Old Town to run Carafe Wines. He doesn’t sleep, but his dedication to his hobby shows – the micro-winery is clearly set up for success, and when he talks about the process of making wine and the many hurdles he crossed in order to get to where he is, you can feel his enthusiasm.

Carafe Wine Makers doesn’t just focus on the art of making wine; customers can come in for wine tastings, group and corporate events, and to pick up a couple of bottles to enjoy themselves or give as a gift. Lamar plans to expand the Carafe experience throughout the local business area. Restaurants can come to the micro-winery and truly make a “house wine” with their own label. We could see Carafe wines sold in other wine shops in the area. Lamar and his wine make appearances at private parties, and he frequents local events; in fact, see him at the Food and Wine Festival at the National Harbor in mid-May.

So, here is to getting busy, trying something new, and checking out Carafe Wine Makers. Cheers!