GREAT FALLS (AP) -- Cowboys and cowgirls don't need to worry about sniffing the corks and extending their pinkie fingers when they visit Montana wineries. Tasting rooms in these parts are a little more laid back.

''You don't have to be ashamed to admit that you know nothing,'' said Judy Chapman, co-owner of Lolo Peak Winery in Missoula. ''At most wineries, the people pouring the wine know a lot about what they're pouring.''

''Don't think just because it's wine there's this snob thing where you have to be sophisticated.''

The Montana wine industry, though in its infancy, is producing award-winning wines made with locally grown and imported vinefera grapes as well as a rainbow of other Big Sky fruits.

Eight wineries are in production, with a ninth label Trail Creek Winery out of Seeley Lake planning to join the mix early next year. The vintners behind the labels create everything from organic wine to mead and are happy to invite folks in and hand out samples of their prided juices.

''When you visit the smaller wineries, a lot of times it's more fun than visiting bigger ones,'' Vintage Sellers owner Gene Betz said. ''You generally get the owner and the winemaker and the family and the staff, so when you walk up to the counter you've got very enthusiastic people that love what they do.''

The small, yet booming Montana wine market is a direct result. Each of the winemakers started crushing, fermenting and blending as a home hobby before taking their crafts to market.

''It's so fun,'' said Ken Schultz, of Trapper Creek Winery in Missoula. ''It's fun with food, it's fun with friends, it's fun to make.''

Schultz's passion is making mead, a fermented alcoholic beverage made using honey, water and yeast. Schultz produces signature dark mead as well as fruit and spiced varieties.

Other vintners around the state produce nongrape wines using local berries, cherries, apples, pears, plums and even rhubarb. Todd Davis of Vintage Sellers said he's impressed with Flathead Lake's Mission Valley apple wine.

''It has a fair amount of sweetness,'' Davis said, referring to Paddy Fleming's Ronan/Lakeside winery. ''It smells like you're walking into a cider mill.''

Ten Spoon Vineyard and Winery in Missoula creates a popular cherry wine, made with organic Lambert cherries grown at the Fat Robin orchard at Flathead Lake's Finley Point.

''It's not a sweet cherry wine, it's a dry cherry wine,'' Davis said. ''It's a perfectly good table wine.''

Andy Sponseller and Connie Poten are among the handful of Montanans who successfully grow vinefera grapes in the cooler, short-season climate. Sponseller credits late pioneering grape breeder Elmer Swenson for their prospering Ten Spoon vineyard.

''He's kind of the granddad of northern grape growing in the United States,'' Sponseller said. The Wisconsin farmer, known for developing more than 20 hybrid varieties, reportedly shared his breeding selections with all who asked.

While some Montana vintners grow their own grapes, most import longer-season grapes from select vineyards in Washington, Oregon and California. The grapes may be crushed on site at the vineyard or in Montana, though not quite in the foot-squashing style of Lucy and Ethel in the famed ''I Love Lucy'' sitcom.

''The grapes are crushed in a mechanical crusher,'' Sponseller said. ''The red grapes go from the crusher right to the fermenting vessels. The whites go from the crusher to the press, and the press to the vessels, while you just ferment the juice.''

Sponseller said the darker reds ferment on the skins, which enhances the flavor and color.

''After the fermentation, the wine is 'racked-off' to remove the sediments,'' he said. ''Then, depending on the wine style, oak is added and there may be a malolactic fermentation.''

The aging time varies with different wines. The wine ages more after bottling.

''All wines, once filtered and put in the bottle, need a chance to recompose themselves in the bottle,'' Sponseller said. ''They start to assume their best character after they have a chance to redevelop in the bottle.''

Montana wines are fairly fresh, with the aging process spanning a couple months to a few years. Nongrape wines tend to need less aging.

''Wine takes different times to really get where you want it to be,'' said Doug Wagner of ClearWeather Wines in Missoula.

The same is true for the industry. In Montana the wine business is nearing red hot or white hot, whatever your palate prefers.

''We're poised on the edge,'' Wagner said. ''Wine consumption is going up, people are becoming more and more educated on wine. It's a good time to develop the industry.''

Local winemakers, a noncompetitive bunch, want more folks making, buying and enjoying Montana-made wine.

''Montanans deserve to drink wine that's made in Montana,'' Sponseller said. ''We should take it one step further and strive to grow as many grapes and quality fruits in Montana. For sure Montanans should be producing wine.''