We often get asked, how did Your Own Winery get started?
Vintner’s Circle
For a number of years, we made our own wine at a wine-making shop, Vintner’s Circle in Sparta, NJ. Vintner’s Circle was a wine-making store franchise (now out of business). The Sparta shop was owned by friends of ours – wine lovers like us. We had tons of fun making wine, and the finished wine was great. In May 2012, the owner of the Sparta shop (let’s call him Dave) asked us. “Would we consider a partnership with him to open a wine-making shop in the Wayne/Butler area (where we live)?” We had never started a business, so the idea was a bit daunting to say the least. But we loved wine-making, knew there were thousands of wine lovers in our area. So the idea seemed like a solid one. From the beginning of discussions with Dave, we all decided this new wine-making shop would not be a Vintner’s Circle franchise. There were just too many restrictions on how we must setup and operate the store. Plus the upfront franchise fee was not small ($25K). And the monthly dollar contribution to the parent franchise company marketing fund was crazy (about $1,000 per month).
Let the Search begin
So we started the process. The first step was to find a suitable location. We must have visited at least 2 dozen vacant retail shop spaces. Boy, was that an education. It’s amazing the sh*t-holes landlords try to rent at top dollar. We ultimately visited an available retail space at The Square at Riverdale, a small shopping plaza on Route 23 North. In 2012, the plaza was home to Ruppert’s restaurant, a iconic sports bar with a 25+ year history in that location, but was in decline. In late 2013, Ruppert’s shut down, and Blu Ale House took over the space and completely updated it, now a great sports bar once again.
Before we formally signed the lease for the Riverdale space, I said to Dave, let’s have a look at your Vintner’s Circle franchise agreement. Low and behold, Dave was not permitted to be involved in any way with a competing wine-making store to the Vintner’s Circle franchise. That left Michele and I with the big question – do we move forward ourselves? Obviously we did – which is how Your Own Winery started.In September 2012, we signed the lease agreement for the space at The Square at Riverdale. We immediately began renovation of the space to create an elegant wine-making shop, from space which previously housed a store for home exercise equipment, treadmills and such.
Here comes the ABC
On a very snowy day, January 31, 2013, the Deputy Commissioner of the NJ Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the Deputy Attorney General of the New Jersey traveled from Trenton, NJ to personally inspect our new wine-making store. We were given their approval to open for business that day. We learned afterwards, they made the trip because Your Own Winery was the first independent (non-franchised) wine-making store in New Jersey. They wanted to be sure we were not current day bootleggers. Wine Making at Your Own Winery.
In May 2019, Your Own Winery Moved to Butler, NJ.
Michele & Paul Crecca
Owners of Your Own Winery