We invite you to come discover how much fun and how simple it is to craft your own fantastic wines! Since 1997, The Wine Shoppe on Park has been proudly serving Peterborough and area with our expert winemaking services, highest-quality grape juices and top of the line equipment! Voted Peterborough's Favourite Wine Making Place each and every year, we are proud to say that we have helped our patrons produce almost 3 million bottles of wine!
We source our superior grape juices from RJS Craft Winemaking, from vineyards that span the globe! Italy, Chile, USA, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Spain to name just a few! Most of our batches make 30 bottles but many half batch options are also now available. We are proud to offer the area's largest selection of fruit wines, available year round, as well as ice wines and ports too.
The winemaking process is so simple! With our help, you select your wine from our list of 200+ selections, sprinkle the yeast to start the fermentation and then leave it with us to expertly take it through its fermentation process. Then you return in 4-8 weeks to bottle your wine, using our user-friendly bottling stations, guided by our knowledgeable and friendly staff. We believe that making wine in a clean and friendly place, where there is a high level of personal customer service, is very important!
We provide everything you need to produce a great batch of wine! Our pricing always includes attractive label choices, colour-coordinated shrink tops, quality corks and all taxes. We search the world for unique and attractive labels for our wines, so that each bottle leaves looking its best, and reflecting the taste of its maker. Wine bottles are included with your first batch and then are always available for purchase, should you need them. We now also offer bag'n'box packaging as well as half bottles for gift-giving. Ask us to see all the options when you come in.
Did you know? We specialize in customizing every batch to our customer's preferences, making adjustments as desired for sweetness, oaking, complexity and body. Visit us to see our Crafting room, where we offer dozens of customising ingredients including oak barrel chips from around the world, dried fruits, spices and specialty yeasts. Over the years, we have created recipes for so many of our customers, many to mimic commercially-available wines and we would love the challenge of making you a wine unique to your taste!
Explore our website, contact us with any questions or better yet, come in to the Shoppe for a tour. We are here to help and make it fun! The only surprises we want you to have are how good your wine tastes and how easy and fun it was to make!
From the archives "History of the Wine Shoppe on Park, circa 2013"
Written by Karen Hicks
Wine Shoppe Patron, author and friend
John and Catherine Morritt created The Wine Shoppe as a business venture that reflected their love of wine and a passion for sharing that love with others.
A lot has been going on at the little shop at the corner of Park and Charlotte since John and Catherine opened the doors in 1997. They quickly became recognized for their high quality wines and friendly environment, at the corner of Park and Charlotte. Daughters Jennifer and Sarah, who began working part-time at the shop, took over the business in 2012.
Perhaps it was too soon to think that their children might follow them into the business and sustain and develop it, but it was a private hope.
It was a great time to be in the make-your-own wine business, in 1997, and clients enjoyed the handy location at Charlotte and Park Street and the friendly and knowledgeable support that John and Catherine provided.
Meanwhile, their twin daughters, Jennifer and Sarah, with newly-earned degrees from Trent University, began working part-time at the family shop (and at part-time jobs in the restaurant industry). Son Michael was also on the scene while finishing High School.
Before long, while the business grew, so did the Morritt family!
Jennifer married Mark in 1998 and Sarah and Bob's wedding was in 2002. While Jennifer and Sarah continued to work at the Wine Shoppe, Sarah and Bob welcomed two daughters, Natalie and Leah. Jennifer and Mark had two sons Adam and Ryan.
As Sarah & Jennifer shifted from part-time to full-time work after their maternity leave, the family provided a welcome child support system; a parent, or a sister, was always available on short notice when one of the children had to miss kindergarten or daycare. Clients watched the grandkids grow up, illustrated by the family photos at the counter.
Meanwhile, John and Catherine began to appreciate that they could leave the store in good hands and they began to enjoy longer vacation trips to farther locations, including France, Ireland and a couple of Caribbean Cruises. In 2003 they moved from their home in the Avenues to a farm in Douro, where they keep many horses, cats, dogs and chickens. The farm continues to keep them busy during their retirement days.
Success followed success, and Jennifer and Sarah became managers of the Wine Shoppe on Charlotte in 2008.
As John and Catherine's grandchildren continue to grow, so did the business. Originally a franchise, Wine Not, at the rented Charlotte and Park Street location, John and Catherine moved away from the franchise in 2005 and created the Wine Shoppe on Charlotte. It was an opportunity to shape their business in a more personal way and it provided the flexibility they needed to meet the challenges of the future.
And that ability to look forward is resulting in the latest growth of the business - a new location and a new name!
Guided by their parents (now retired), but led by Jennifer and Sarah, the Wine Shoppe on Charlotte is moving to a noted local building they have purchased at Park and Brock Street.
Long valued by neighbours as Routley's Grocery store, the newer-built building which has stood on the corner since 1990 will house The Wine Shoppe on Park in July, 2013.
The new location offers an automatic door, ample parking, open concept and bright bottling areas and the same quality wines and service that were offered at their former location.
It is a big move, literally, and otherwise into a new, but nearby neighbourhood which reflects the from-the-ground-up leadership of Sarah and Jennifer, the next generation of Morritt wine shop managers. They have learned the business from the ground up and remain ahead of the latest trends and developments in products and equipment.
The Morritts have always been grateful for the assistance of a conscientious and knowledgeable young staff which has also shared milestones of university graduations and weddings while continuing to offer the best assistance to clients.
Today, Catherine spends her time managing the farm east of the city and caring for her retired thoroughbred horses, chickens and her large gardens. John has taken long motorcycle trips, exploring his love of history, and briefly entered the world of horseracing, while continuing his love of many types of music, which customers still can appreciate by the earful while bottling in the Wine Shoppe. John's current hobby is walking. He will be embarking on the El Camino Santiago walk in Spain in August 2013!
It may have been an unspoken hope in 1997 when John and Catherine opened the doors to their business on Charlotte Street, but passing it on to their daughters and seeing it thrive within the family, has become the happy reality for them, and it truly makes the Wine Shoppe on Park a friendly place for clients to share their love of wine making.
Written by Karen Hicks,
Wine Shoppe Patron, author and friend
