There’s a certain charm to small-scale winemaking. Less steel tank, more oak barrel. Fewer spreadsheets, more soil. It’s part art, part agriculture, part quiet ambition. Not to mention, a whole lot of waiting. You may think that producing wine is only for large corporations. Boutique Bottlers, here’s how to start a cottage wine business—get expert tips on winemaking, labeling, marketing, and building a brand that truly lasts. However, it’s more accessible than you think. Before you embark on your journey, here are a few sage tips to make the process smoother:
What’s In Store(room)?
However, before you quit your day job and order three tonnes of Grenache, there are some fundamentals to consider, not the least of which is wine storage and logistics. You can make the best wine in the region, but if it’s sweating in a garden shed next to the lawn mower, you’ve missed the point.
The conditions in which you store wine are absolutely critical to producing a great finished product. Get this piece of the puzzle right, and all your hard work will bear fruit.
Start a Cottage Wine Business: 5 Steps for Boutique Bottlers
1. Know What You Want to Make — and Why
This might sound painfully obvious, but specificity is your friend. “I want to make wine” is roughly as helpful as saying “I want to make art.” Is it dry-grown Shiraz? Skin-contact Pinot Gris? Sparkling made by the traditional method or in a tank? Your wine should have a reason for existing beyond the fact that you enjoy drinking it.
You don’t need a cellar door made of sandstone and ambition, but you do need a product with purpose. Wine is storytelling in a bottle. Your story needs a point, a place, and a plan.
2. Start Small, Start Sensibly
You don’t need to own a vineyard. In fact, we wouldn’t recommend it — at least not at first. The smarter path is often to source fruit from growers who know what they’re doing. Grapes, like guests, are better when someone else handles them first.
Buy in bulk, crush off-site, and rent space if needed. There’s a whole world of custom crush facilities, shared equipment, and per-tonne processing that lets you make wine without remortgaging the house. The key is to keep your overheads as lean as your oak program.
3. Label Lawfully (And Tastefully)
Sure, wine labelling laws are as dry as a Clare Riesling. But they’re essential. Take time to find the right agency to register with, track your volume, document your sourcing, and prove you’re not selling something closer to petrol than Pinot.
Then there’s branding. Resist the urge to name your business after your dog, unless your dog has impeccable taste and a trust fund. You’ll want a name, a label, and a design that communicates something (but maybe not everything) about your wine. Cleverness is welcome, but clarity is better. “Minimal intervention” means different things to different people, and “funky” is not a flavor.
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4. Find Your Market, Not Just a Mailing List
Selling wine is an act of matchmaking. You’re not moving units; you’re building a following. Direct-to-consumer is the most profitable route for most small producers, but it requires time, trust, and savvy marketing.
Start close to home. Farmers markets, wine bars, small retailers, and mailing lists built one handshake at a time. Larger distributors won’t touch you until you’re more established, and frankly, they shouldn’t. Protect your margins, own your customer relationships, and remember: six solid stockists who pay on time are worth more than fifty tyre-kickers who want consignment cases and never respond to emails.
5. Age Gracefully — the Wine and the Business
Wine rewards patience. So does business. Things will go wrong. Bottles will leak. Labels will peel. Tanks will tip over, trucks will be late, and someone will always ask if you make rosé when you clearly do not.
Build slow, scale carefully, and don’t expand just because you’ve sold out once. Focus on consistency, quality, and quiet improvement.
Use off-site professionals for anything you can’t yet justify owning. That includes bottling lines, lab analysis, compliance paperwork, and yes, wine storage and logistics. Those services exist for a reason, so use them.
Running a cottage wine business isn’t glamorous. It’s sticky floors, awkward deliveries, and explaining residual sugar to someone who just wanted something “light and fruity.” However, it’s also incredibly rewarding. You’ll meet other people as mad as you are. You’ll drink better. You’ll think more deeply about place, process, and patience.
And one day, you’ll crack open a bottle. your bottle, and realize that despite the spreadsheets, sleepless nights, and splintered barrels, it was worth it. Even if the label’s slightly crooked.
