You Like Wine? Try Planting a Vineyard at Home.

Craig Lemoine had a concrete slab in his backyard and he didn’t know what to do with it. “It was very sad,” he said. “I like everything to be green and lush.”

When Mr. Lemoine, who is a professor of financial planning in Champaign, Ill., was discussing landscaping the backyard with his father, the conversation somehow turned to visiting wineries, something Mr. Lemoine has a passion for.

He has traveled to Milan and Versailles to taste full-bodied reds, his favorites. He has also spent time in Sonoma County, Calif., and the Pocono Mountains and Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania. “Some of my best memories are sunset on the balcony of a vineyard in the Poconos with my family.”

With that in mind, his father, Bill Lemoine, suggested replacing the backyard slab with a backyard vineyard. “Why don’t we plant vines together?” Craig Lemoine recalled his father asking.

It isn’t clear how many backyard winemakers there are in the United States. WineAmerica, an industry group, does not have substantive data on people planting vineyards in their backyards, but novice vintners are out there. “There are some people that do grow some grapes as a hobby and maybe make wine in their garage,” said Michael Kaiser, executive vice president and director of government affairs at WineAmerica, which is based in Washington, D.C.