BY MELISSA CIFELLI
Staff Writer
MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Thomas and Nancy Nye, owners of The Grape Escape wine-making school, stand by barrels of Chilean wine. It’s all about fun and good wine.The Grape Escape, South Brunswick’s first and only wine-making school, has completed two successful wine seasons and is now taking orders for its Fall Crush.
The school, located on Stults Road in Dayton, blends Old World wine-making with the latest technology, according to proprietor Thomas Nye.
Nye, along with his wife, Nancy, brought The Grape Escape concept to South Brunswick in October.
MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Thomas and Nancy Nye, owners of The Grape Escape wine-making school, stand by the pressing machine used to crush grapes. The Grape Escape offers beginner, intermediate and advanced winemaker courses for two wine seasons. The first season, which creates wine with California grapes, runs from September to October, and the second season, specializing in Chilean wine, runs from April to May.
“People just go crazy for California wine,” Nye said.
California’s grapes, which create wines with great consistency and numerous fruity wines, are more well-known in America, making it a popular and marketable season, Nye said.
Varieties such as Barbera and Sangiovese wines are popular favorites, Nye said.
To make your own bottle, it takes only four one-hour sessions spread over a 10-month period.
In the first session, Nye said, grapes are pushed through a crushing machine. Students learn how to destem and crush grapes, and start the first fermentation.
The next session starts 10 to 14 days after fermentation begins. According to Nye, skins are removed and juices are pressed into oak barrels, where it sits and is tested.
Four months later the wines are racked. According to Nye, sediment (or lees) that has fallen to the bottom is removed, the barrels are cleaned, and wine is put back or “topped off.”
The final step is to bottle, cork, label and shrink seal the wine, Nye said.
According to Nye, proper testing and readings are critical throughout the winemaking stages. It is particularly crucial to maintain a clean barrel to prevent disease.
“Once a barrel is diseased, it is ruined forever,” Nye said.
Nye said The Grape Escape uses the latest in cleaning and sanitizing technology, such as their $10,000 O-Zone machine, which cleanses barrels without the use of chemicals.
Wine’s pH levels are monitored, as too high a level of sulfate creates a bad taste. Readings for a grape’s sugar content must also be at correct levels.
“Certain practices have to be followed,” Nye said in the wine-making process.
Those tests, according to Nye, are not often done with homemade wines.
All this is done so The Grape Escape can provide customers with winery-quality products, Nye said.
Already, The Grape Escape has made 60 barrels of wine from its first two seasons, with 40 from the California varieties, and 20 of Chilean.
According to Nye, the school is aiming to produce 100 barrels in coming seasons. And that’s a lot of grapes.
To make one barrel of wine, 21 crates of 36 pounds of grapes are needed. That is roughly 756 pounds of grapes for one barrel.
The grapes are imported from regions such as California’s Napa Valley, Lake County and Lodi. Individuals, regardless of wine backgrounds experience both red and white wines. Nye said the school will also import specialty grapes from the Russian River area in California, which could offer customers tier choice wines.
According to Nye, the school sees both novices and Napa Wine distributors enroll for classes.
“This is the perfect marriage of these type of people,” Nye said.
Students can try up to 20 different varieties to increase their wine knowledge. But despite the procedures and techniques, Nye said the school is not at all a classroom-type setting.
“It’s a totally casual environment,” Nye said.
The room is decorated, and music plays while class is in progress.
“It shouldn’t be intimidating to anyone,” Nye said.
According to Nye, the school teaches couples looking to bottle their own wine flavors for their wedding to companies conducting team-building workshops.
Individuals come away with a product they can be proud of, an experience Nye considers a lasting gift. So far, the return rate for students at The Grape Escape is between 75 and 80 percent, according to Nye.
“Everyone who leaves here, leaves with a smile on their face,” Nye said.
Nye credits the popularity of the school to the busy lifestyles and numerous family demands adults have.
“It’s a playground for adults,” Nye admits.
This idea of fun is one of the reasons Nye said he and his wife brought The Grape Escape to South Brunswick.
According to Nye, New Jersey is leading the country in the concept of winemaking schools. The couple hopes to expand their school to other locations in the tristate area.
Nye has already created the school’s computer database that will make it possible to manage numerous franchise locations and orders in the future.
As of now, the couple, who both have full-time careers in Princeton, juggle spending time at the school in the mornings, lunchtime and evening hours with their current jobs.
Keeping their positions light-hearted, Nancy Nye serves as The Grape Escape’s chief fun officer and her husband as the chief tannin officer.
Opening the school, according to Nye, was something both he and his wife enjoy.
“For us, it was to follow our passion,” Nye said. “It is a lot of hours, but its something I love, and that I don’t consider work.”
Nye said interested students should visit the school’s upcoming open house events scheduled for June 24, Aug. 4, 18 and 25, between 6-8 p.m. The open houses are chances for the public to see what the school is all about and get a chance to see various wines, Nye said.
For more information on prices and orders, visit the school’s Web site at www.TheGrapeEscape.net.
In the meantime, Nye said he and his wife are looking to one day make the operation a full-time career.
“We love wine, we love people,” he said.