Wine Maker Program
Indulge in our exclusive Wine Maker program 2025-2026. Immerse yourself in the art of winemaking starting in March 2025. Limited to 10 participants, secure your spot now and unlock the secrets of La Robina's finest wines.
Sharing the experience
La Robina’s Wine Maker course is a year long program teaching and making wine toghether with professionals.
Idea was born after the founder Ismo Rantala received half jealous half admiring feedback over social medias after he changed career from IT entrepreneur in the US into wine making in south of France. So, it’s understandable that not everyone can jump over to establish a vineyard, but how about giving the experience for anyone to participate in the wine making. Giving an introduction how the wine is made with the given fields, equipment and facilities we have in La Robina, and design a wine with a participant taste, and create it together. Participant don't need any experience of wine making but we welcome seasoned wine makers and enthusiasts join the program, too.
Making together your wine - online
The program walks trough wine making in step by step, following the wine design, explaining needed decisions, data to decide and a process following the decision. We guide and make all decisions together before action is taken to modify wine in its coming a type of wine its profiled to come
After all decisions and processes are made, the wine is fermented in our winery. Before bottling we want to create labels for your wines, which we put in place once bottling, corking and capsuling. In meanwhile the wine is fermenting, we can send tasting bottles to follow its development to ready wine when it is legally allowed. In the end of the program, we’ll send you the wine, and when acquired the barrel as well, the barrel with your name on it with a diploma of Wine Maker signed by our oenology.
The wine can be aged longer in our cellars when profiled so with no extra cost. Participants can also visit and join the wine making processes when wished or tasting their wines, why not our other wines as well.
Everybody are very welcome to La Robina estates at any time!
What the program provides
• Wine making training over the year
• Grapes
• Use of all equipment and wine vessels
• Use of facilities and cellar space
• Field and cellar work by wine professionals
• High end bottles, custom designed labels, natural corks, capsule / wax
• 300 bottles of ready wine
• Shipping to doorstep
• Importing fees, duties and taxes
• Wine Makers jacket
All work is done by and in La Robina wine professionals, by hand from field to corking.
All grapes are fully organic AOP Saint-Chinian appellation grapes. Altitude about 150m/500ft from sea level. Terroir is chists.
Varieties are: Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Carignan and Cinsault.
Wine is made in La Robina’s winery in Saint-Pons de Thomieres. Winery is 350 years old stone building with a steady and chill temperature at altitude of 300m/1000ft from sea level.
Program communication
Online communication happens in Zoom, email and WhatsApp. Sessions which can be held in English, French, Finnish and Swedish are scheduled suit everyones time zones.
The program holds at least 10 themed sessions which can be in several parts:
1) Introduction 2) Wine making and natural wine 3) Wine profiling 4) Harvesting time 5) Maceration
6) Fermenting 7) Tastings 8) Designg and bottling 9) Shipping 10) Graduation
Additional sessions will come during wine measurements and monitoring to keep everyones finger in pulse when important decisions must be done. We can also make them before the participant if so agreed, of course following the wine profiling we have together made.
Fun way to communicate is to visit La Robina and join the process: Either during grape picking, maceration and pressing (typically August/September) or bottling, waxing and labeling (typically May/June). In addition you are welcome to taste your wine during any time of the year.
Few words of the Saint-Chinian region where the grapes come from and Saint-Pons de Thomieres, La Robina home town.
Saint-Chinian, the oldest wine making region in Languedoc-Roussilon, located 20 minutes drive from Beziers, which claims to be the wine capital of the world and oldest city in France. Saint-Chinian dates back to ancient Roman times when viticulture was developed, among roads between Gaul and Hispania. The region is 500ft above the sea level and Bezier plains and crossed with two rivers. Saint-Chinian wines were already liked in Rome, as it has been mentioned by vocal wine lovers Cicero and Pliny the Younger.
Today Saint-Chinian produces high quality wines over quantity. It gained AOC recognition early 2000’s and this region of 20 villages and picturesque chists terroir fields produce excellent white, orange, rose and red wines. Recently the region has raised its head also by hosting large number of natural vineyards, which produce wine that are sold around the world.
Saint-Pons de Thomieres is a same size small town of under 2000 people, another 20 minutes north, lifted again 500ft higher from Saint-Chinian, reaching 1000ft altitude. The town was in 1900’s a fabric production hub of the region and a commercial hotspot in the whole Languedoc. It also produced wine in its hills but has turn into more modern livelihoods since. La Robina winery and cellars are built to a 350 years old 26,000sqf stone factory, once making yarns for fabrics, sided by a river that origins from a sub terrain lake in the village. The river gives the cellars Its steady calm atmosphere where wine loves to ferment slowly and later, age and mature to their fullest potential. La Robina has a tasting room and hosts a concept called The Cave, creating a vibrant community of wine makers, professionals and wine lovers together with annual and monthly events.
Wine Maker program pricing
Program can be paid in full when signing.
It can be also paid in parts as following:
Downpayment USD/€ 500 at signing;
1) 25% after wine profiling by March 30, 2025
2) 25% before harvest by June 30, 2025
3) 25% at fermentation by Sept 30, 2025
4) 25% at bottling by June 30, 2026
USA: Possible Tax, Customs and Tariffs included
France: VAT will be added to price
Elsewhere in Europe: No tax needed
TOTAL price, USD/€ 7.990 by Feb 28.
Normal price, USD/€ 9.990.