LAYTON — It took 15 years, hundreds of practice brews and eight different licenses for Jay Yahne and his wife Lori to open Davis County’s only winery.

Even more important to opening the Hive Winery, though, was having a high-quality product that was interesting enough to tempt oenophiles away from their standard merlots and Gewerztraminers.

The answer for the Yahnes is fruit and honey concoctions.

“You’ve got to make a product of high enough quality that it’s worth the license fees,” Yahne said.

A year after opening its doors, the Hive seems to have done just that. It’s not making enough money to support its owners full-time, but it has almost no debt.

Yahne projected that in order to profit in the first year, he would need to sell 2,000 gallons of fruit wine. He reached the goal and went beyond, selling 2,400 gallons of the stuff to total about 12,000 bottles.

The Hive Winery tasting room and brewery is located at 1220 W. Jack D Drive. The boutique winery specializes in premium non-grape alcoholic products known as meads and melomels. Varieties include raspberry, black currant, peach, raspberry peach, apricot, strawberry, raspberry, peach cobbler and more. The Yahnes brew new wines constantly, and 27 are available now.

for more information check out the July 26 edition of Davis Clipper.