MT. VERNON — David Hamilton is very particular about the way he makes wine.

His winery, which pulls extra duty as a “junk store” in Hamilton’s words, has been making wine the same way since its doors opened back in 2000. Using strictly organic or wild-picked fruits, Hamilton has slowly created a healthy demand for his unique wines.

Hamilton also dabbles in the ancient art of mead making, crafting the oldest alcoholic beverage in human history with honey from his own locally raised bees.

While you may find a grape wine sprinkled in among Hamilton’s offerings, he prefers to make his wines out of fruits such as blackberries, raspberries, plums, kiwis, rhubarb or, for his best-known vintage, huckleberries. The fruit is either picked by Hamilton with the assistance of other pickers or sourced from organic farmers or other fruit pickers.

Wines made by Hamilton are free of sulfides and preservatives. “That means no headache,” he said.

Hamilton began his winemaking journey working with his grandfather at the ripe old age of 9. Today he uses the same methods taught to him by his grandfather in his own winery.

The most difficult fruit to obtain for Hamilton just happens to be the fruit needed for his most famous wine, huckleberry. A pair of strokes left him unable to make the 4,000- to 5,000-foot trek up the south slope of Mount Adams in Washington, where he said the best huckleberries grow.

Since then, Hamilton has had to purchase huckleberries for his winemaking needs, with prices ranging between $60 and $120 per gallon over the last two years. He added that a gallon of huckleberries comes out to 5 pounds of fruit.

The winemaker’s personal favorite is a Snake River plum wine that is made using wild-picked plums Hamilton and his family gather during their annual reunion.

The most difficult part in the six-month process of turning raw fruit into wine comes in the first two weeks, according to Hamilton.

“You feed it (yeast) three times, a third each time over the first two weeks,” he said.

The fruit and yeast mixture needs to be stirred twice a day, no matter what.

“I have to stir that wine because it aerates it,” he said.

Hamilton said he prefers to age his honey mead anywhere from two to four years before it’s ready for consumption.

Unique flavors and offerings, along sparse grape wine offerings is something that Hamilton thinks help his wine stick out among a host of other options.

“Most people that are making grape wine, they make the same grape wine every year,” he said. “To me, the drier you make a wine, the less fruit flavor you have.”

Hamilton said most of the wines on the market today are tasteless or taste too much like alcohol.

“That’s what you’re getting, water and alcohol and a little grape juice.”

Those looking to sample some of Hamilton’s wine or mead can stop by the David Hamilton Winery at 191 W. Main St. in Mt. Vernon. The winery is open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

Prices are $50 a bottle for the huckleberry wine, $30 for mead and $20 for all other wine flavors.

Hamilton’s wines can also be found for sale at Chester’s Market in John Day and the Dale Store.