Want to start your own winery? All you need is a laptop.

So I came across a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that had me absolutely fascinated...particularly because I have long wanted to make my own wine. It was about the combination of technology and oenology, thanks to a company called Crushpad (http://www.crushpadwine.com/). Now I've heard of Crushpad, but didn't realize the extent of their capabilities. This company allows people to make their own wine. Yeah, I know, big deal...I can do that in my garage. However, it goes beyond making your own wine. We're not talking about making some home brewed shwag.

This place lets you decide what kind of wine you want to make, how much you want to make, and how involved you want to be in the process. That's right...I could sit here in Jersey while they make the wine. But it doesn't stop there. Winery staff keep their virtual vintners up to date with e-mails and Web postings. When the fruit comes in, Web cams show the crush, complete with live chat so viewers can question the workers, who respond to computers equipped with voice-recognition software. Basically, the grapes and crush process are real, but your experience can be as virtual as you want it to be. Further along in the process, members can participate in blending and bottling decisions and design their own labels.

Can you imagine creating your own wine label and winery for $5,000-10,000? Well now you can, and it's much cheaper than spending millions on real estate and equipment. And, you control your level of involvement. If you want to be their for crush and bottling, just take some time off of work and head west. It's your winery, you run it the way you want.

So, what do you think of this new process? Is it something you'd consider doing? Have you already made your own wine?