Benjamin Franklin once said, “The discovery of a wine is of greater moment than the discovery of a constellation. The universe is too full of stars.” and discovering Hangar 41 is the beginning of discovering incredible wine right here in our community. It all started when Sandy & Zahorchak bought The Grape Escape in 2006, changing its business name to Time to Make Wine and its winery name to The Cape Winery. They kept the winery operational and continued to provide patrons with the opportunity to make their own wines. They introduced a small selection of supplies for home beer makers and eventually started a homebrew club that met at the store. In 2012, they decided to move the business to Fort Myers, which understandably brought about a name change since it was no longer located in the Cape. Both Zahorchaks were previously in the Air Force Reserves, with Mr. Also flying for Northwest Airlines, so it’s no surprise that they wanted the new name to be aviation related. After weeks of making lists of possible names, Mr. Excitedly announced, “I’ve got it! Hangar 41!” merging their love of flying with their new location along 41 in the Page Field Plaza. This evolved to the Hangar 41 Winery & Brewery Shop as they offered a bigger selection of beer ingredients and finally added “a bona fide homebrew supply shop” to their resume.
The first thing you see when you walk into Hangar 41 is a wall of wine, and a picture of Lucy stomping grapes. How perfect! Everyone remembers this episode of I Love Lucy and what better image could encompass both the positive, enjoyable, fun atmosphere and the wine making process that Hangar 41 prides itself on. One of the things employees of Hangar 41 enjoy the most is helping patrons make their own wine. They do all of their customer wine making and bottling by appointment with the first appointment generally taking about an hour. The process starts with a guided tasting to help customers choose a wine (or wines) they would like to make a 30 bottle batch of and consists of a step-by-step walk through to create a “uniquely-you” wine or a recreation of one their own recipes . It takes about 3-4 months for white wines to age be ready to bottle and 6-9 months for red, and during that time, customers are welcome to come participate in the processing steps or simply visit their wine-the more love you give it, the better it will be! Once it is ready, bottling takes about another hour as bottles have to be rinsed, sanitized, filled, corked, and dressed (i.e. foils, labels), if that option is chosen. Hangar 41 encourages recycling, so customers are welcome to bring their own clean, recycled bottles, or purchase new bottles from us. A batch of wine is 30 bottles. Prices range from $172 to $310 per batch for the wine and corks, with bottles starting at $45 per batch and foils and custom labels starting at $16 per batch.
Being an urban winery, Hangar 41 makes all its wines from juices and concentrates from all over the world, which allows them to make wine year-round. Their wine has fewer preservatives because it doesn’t need to contain as many with it being made, bottled and sold on the premises. It doesn’t have to be driven across the country in a hot truck or sit on a hot loading dock. Customers are encouraged to leave their wine at the store if they will not be going straight home and pick it up later so they don’t leave it cooking in their car. In addition to their large selection of ready to purchase wines, and their wine (& beer!) brewing classes, they carry everything customers would need to make their own wine right at home. They love answering questions and sharing their knowledge with fellow wine-lovers, wine-creators, and amateurs who are just starting out on their journeys to discover all things wine. When people come into the store and say that they don’t like wine, their answer is, “You haven’t tried the right wine yet!” and with so many varieties, Hangar 41 works on finding a wine that is perfect for that customer’s individual palate.
Wine + Holidays with Hangar 41
1. One of their favorite holiday wines for those who like something a little sweeter is their Cranberry Chianti. It can enhance or even replace the cranberry sauce side-dish.
2. A couple of their newer, off the beaten path wines are their South Africa Chenin Blanc and their German Gewurztraminer. They have customer favorite Italian Amarone’ and Barolo and all the usual suspects like Cab, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. Their best-selling wine over the last 14 years, both by the bottle and the batch though, is a special recipe wine created by the previous owners. It’s their Honey Red, a merlot, back sweetened with orange blossom honey; it’s great served with fruit and cheese.
3. They also have a fun selection of wine related gifts that make great stocking stuffers – insulated tumblers, cocktail napkins, coasters and kitchen towels with sayings like: “All I do is Beach and Wine”, “I’m Outdoorsey, I Drink Wine on the Patio” and “It’s not a Hangover, It’s Wine Flu.”
