Yet the whole process hinges on the quality of the grapes.
The perennial debate continues!
Is it your home if you are a renter?
Yes but it’s not your house.
The genesis of this topic was the result of someone challenging whether or not MACDONALD is a winery, in another thread. In a previous thread, I asked as a consumer does it matter whether or not the winemaker grows their own fruit. I think that while we may be dealing with the legal definition of what constitutes a winery, from the perspective of the enthusiast, it might be something quite different. Just as no one has ever gotten wet by the word water, I would bet the ownership of a facility would not be necessary to most people for a wine producing operation to qualify as a winery.
So I’d love to come to dinner in your home, but I don’t really care whether or not it’s your house. And I wouldn’t want to go to dinner in your house if it wasn’t your home! Lol.
But maybe the original query was more about what LEGALLY makes us a winery or not. Alternating Proprietors who share facilities are wineries in the eyes of Fed and State. You get interviewed by a BATF (Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms!) agent to confirm that you’re responsible for the winemaking decisions. And you have to produce wine there, although many many wineries, even big ones with their own facilities, also produce wine at other facilities for logistical reasons.
True, as is the same with any product using natural raw materials. But there is usually a different name for the person that grows the raw materials vs the one that turns that material into the finished product. Not slighting the importance of either side in the end product.