Grape beginnings is a hands- on winery located in Eatontown. If you want to make your own wine: such as California or Washington State Reds, whites, red blends and Italian style, this might be the place to try. You get access, according to them, some of the finest grapes from Premier Wine making regions. You use the winery grade equipment and winemaking techniques. This includes bottles, corks and decorative caps in a variety of colors. You get five hands on winemaking sessions over a 10 month period assisted by their experienced and award-winning winemaker, again, according to them. This experience will cost you, depending on how many bottles you want to buy. For example if you want to make/buy 12 bottles, it will cost you $240 or $20 per bottle. On the other end of that spectrum if you want to make/buy a full barrel, it will cost you $3000 which translates to 240 bottles at $12.50 per bottle. Both of these examples are called the Signature Series. There is a more expensive option called the Vineyard Series. In this series you cannot make/buy 12 bottles but must make/buy a qtr, half, or full barrel. Caveat: all monies must be paid up front. Read the fine print and go make some vino. For me? No!!!!!!!! really not interested. read more

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Never knew that there were people who paid to do the hard work of wine making. Yes, my friend paid this winery for the "privilege" of making wine himself. The experience was surprisingly fun! We got to crush grapes in a machine, then pour it into a barrel, then come back to put pressure on the barrel to squeeze the wine out, and we're now waiting to go back for bottling. Prices are okay per bottle, but that's if you buy an entire barrel or half a barrel, which can end up being quite a bit of money. Good luck drinking all that wine - good thing wine usually gets better with time. read more

We did get our wine...but we have not gotten out labels....my husband has called, emailed and texted Ryan one of the owners.... I have called 3 different times and spoke to 3 different people..they apologized for him...but I still don't have my labels... The wine is for Christmas presents....and not we can give our wine without labels... We were going to make another barrel with friends...the cost $3000 Now it's a no go!! Ryan may know a lot about wine ..but how irresponsible this owner can be! read more

Had my daughter's 1st Birthday party there and I couldn't be happier with my experience! Ryan (owner) worked with me every step of the way to ensure it was a memorable experience for my daughter, family and friends. Enough room for kids activities and strollers (newborns to 10 year olds). And the adults were really impressed by the wine. Tours given by Ryan and Steve added another element to the party the adults really enjoyed. Highly recommend for any type of event. Will definitely be coming back, next time probably without the kids! read more

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Just finished bottling first batch of wine last night. We had s wonderful experience throughout the process. Mike and Frank were extremely knowledgable and guided us through every step of the way. I have always enjoyed drinking wine, and now that I understand the process of making it, I have a greater appreciation for a good bottle. We made a Tuscan blend this time, thinking of trying a white wine next time, or perhaps some beer brewing. If you are in the area and are curious about the process, stop in for one of their events, try some wine and learn about the wine making process. You won't be disappointed! Thanks for a great experience! read more

A group of 7 of us went to Grape Beginnings for a friend's birthday. We had a private wine tasting and it was great! A lot of fun! Ryan was awesome very accommodating and personable! We will definitely be back! read more

Visited Grape Beginnings today and met with the new owner, Ryan, who was so excited about wine making and business and customer-service. He gave us a tour of the facility and patiently answered all our questions. Have never done anything like this, but basically they walk you thru each step of the process , from picking the varieties of grapes to bottling and corking. read more

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MOVED LOCATION TO BERGEN COUNTY. They are not local anymore!!!! We are in the process of making wine and were informed by email that they moved. Ridiculous! Very poor customer service after months of trying to get into touch with them. Seems they either merged or were bought out by another company. read more

I bought a deal through one of the group deal providers for a wine making experience for $129. I could never get these people to return my call to redeem or make a reservation. They never picked up the phone no matter when I called and they never called back after leaving message after message. Shady. read more

We bought two coupons for beer making via living social and had to call 10+ times to get an "appointment". We made our beer end of April and were told to call to set a time to come back and bottle the beer within 4 weeks. We have been calling, emailing, stopping by since and can never get a return call or appointment. Wasted $200 and all that time. Do not buy from this firm they are disreputable and do not honor their commitments. read more

I bought a Wine-making Experience for 2 groupon for $129. This was the biggest sham. I have called, left messages, and written several emails. I bought this groupon mid-March. We are now in the middle of May and I have tried contacting them at least 8 times to make a reservation/appointment to use my groupon. I received 1 email a couple of months ago telling me that the date I was requesting was full. I responded to that email asking what days were available (since there was a list on the website, but obviously not updated). However, this email was sent almost a month after I requested the date. Since then I have not heard from them. I recently sent an email asking if anyone was reading the emails and for any information on available dates before my groupon expires. Needless to say I will be getting my money back through Groupon. And... I almost forgot... the Groupon dates are almost all during the week from 4 - 9pm or 10am - 2pm so unless you don't have a full-time job M-F these times are very inconvenient to begin with. Very unprofessional. read more

Horrible customer service. I went, brewed my beer and was told that I would be contacted when I could come back and bottle/pick-up my beer. I never got a call. I called, left messages and e-mailed and never got a response. Don't waster your time and money. read more

Is this place still in business? My sister and bro in law purchased a wine making class for two as a gift for me. I have literally emailed and called this place for weeks. To date, I haven't received one response. Based upon the other reviews, it seems that they have consistently been non-responsive regarding inquiries. I wish my sister was aware of this prior to purchasing anything from them. read more

I will give one star only because our first impression was so great! I bought my mom a wine making class for Mothers Day and we went drank wine and learned a lot, but then we were supposed to go back to actually make and bottle wine a month later....but that hasn't happened I've emailed called etc and nothing no response whatsoever at one point I'm like just let me get my three bottles and I'm out but nope still no response! It's a shame bc Ryan was so nice, but obviously that has since changed and he no longer cares about the business or his customer service.... it's a shame read more

It is a fun night out, great wine making experience. The owner Ryan is fantastic, knowledgable and friendly. I highly recommend!

Two years ago my husband and I bought his son a GC to make beer. My husband and step son went on a Tuesday night spent over 3 hours making the beer. They were told it would be ready for bottling in 1 month. A month went by and my husband had to call and email everyday to ask when they could come and bottle. Frank always had an excuse as to why it wasn't a good time. By this time a year went by and the batch of beer was bad. Now I called very upset asking Frank to call me that I wanted my money back. The man couldn't even pick up the phone and call, he emailed my husband and told him he would make a new batch and they could come and pick it up when it was ready and the boys could come back and make another batch, Ok so I thought he was making good on his unprofessional business. So we picked up the beer that Frank re made and the boys went back and made another batch. The beer would be ready in a month we were told again, so when the beer was ready he emailed and my husband said we could come the following week, Frank said no problem what day, we told him Monday Night (this was on friday) - Monday afternoon we got an email saying that Monday night wasn't going to be good how about Tuesday, ok we will come Tuesday - then on Tuesday afternoon we got an email saying that wasn't going to be good. Here we go again, so my husband told him to bottle the beer and he would just stop there and pick it up. We were afraid that again the beer was going to go bad. So now again my husband and step son couldn't do the hold process of hands on beer making. Now my husband went and picked up the beer today, and Frank had the nerve to ask him after we drink the beer to please wash the bottles out and return them. I have talked to other people that have had the same experience with this man. He isn't a very good business man. Don't waist your time or money here. You will have more stress then fun. I am giving him one star because I have to - but I don't think he deserves any stars. read more

My wife bought me a gift to Grape Beginnings, which sounded great! Unfortunately, I could never successfully get in touch with the place. I left messages on the phone and sent eMails as well. What a waste. I complained to the company that sold us the gift voucher and got the money back. There were plenty of bad reviews on FB as well until the company deleted their group. All the bad reviews were within a couple of days of each other, which says quite a bit. Very poor way to run a business. read more

I've had the opposite experience working with the owners. I bought a groupon two three years ago and enjoyed myself so much that when the offered to count the price of the groupon towards the purchase of a barrel of wine. I jumped on it. This was before they moved to their new location. I have since made three more wine projects with them and bought an 1/8 and a 1/4 barrel of wine from them. As well as a couple of cases of project wines. Their new location is even better than the old and easier to get to. The process of wine making is simple. It involves crushing the grapes then re-crushing them to juice which is transferred to the first barrel. A couple of months later they transfer the wine to a different barrel which is as much a chance to taste your wine as it is to work. Finally, they notify you when the wine is ready and you bottle and cork it. They e-mail you as each step approaches. Their web site has times available for each step in this process. If time is an issue be sure to sign up early as the better times go quickly. Each step of the process is more like a party than a chore. I would recommend getting a group together and buy either a whole barrel or a half barrel. The wine come out to about 7-8 dollars a bottle but you can buy better grapes at more of a cost and they also have project wines which are really good and cost about $15.00 a bottle or so. I find the wine we make is much better than wine you'll buy in the store in the same price range. I think it is a good value. They also run specials once you are signed up as a customer where you can get a discount on specific wines. I've never made beer. So I can't comment on that process. Calling can be difficult but they have always been responsive to e-mails. In my experience both of the owners have been more than helpful and are both really nice guys. So I find the negative comments surprising. I'm sorry the other writers had such negative experiences but my experiences on multiple occasions have been completely the opposite. I recommend giving them a shot. Leo B. read more

If you've read the first review I don't need to say anymore...completely unprofessional, and wonder if they actually give anyone the wine making experience they promise. I had to call over and over to get my reservation confirmed. Then a week before my wine making experience is scheduled it is cancelled. I was directed to a website to "reschedule" Guess what!! The site doesn't exist!!! Luckily I was able to get, my money back through group on but DO NOT give this place your time or money unless you want to feel taken advantage of in the end read more