Ever think of opening your own vinyard?

[rshosted]

I'm sure there are a lot of things going on with a winery that people (especially me) don't know. Though, as I have found with any business. You never find something where you get to sit back and let the money roll in, it is a bunch of work. I wonder what type of return you get on a winery. I would imagine that if you actually made the grapes into wine you wouldn't get but a small (20-15%) return, after paying for real estate, equipment, chemicals, bottles, shipping, advertising, occasional employee, taxes, permits, insurance, barrels, racks, cannons

.

But you know what. I don't make that much money in what I'm doing now... and then I could have more wine around me.

I think it would be a dream to wake up and get to go out and trim vines, check sugars and acids, spray, and run around with a scare crow outfit on to scare away the birds (heck I do that now, and I don't have but six plants in the ground)

 

[pkcook]

When your work is your passion, it hardly seems like work at all! To make money at doing what you love is something many, if not most, of usnever get the opportunity to do. If you think you could do it and survive, I say go for it. Not sure of the legal red tape you would have to go thru in Ut, but explore the local wineries and talk with the owners and get some advice from them.

 

[rshosted]

Yeah, if this turns into something I'll be moving to Oregon. We don't have a growing season for 'commercial' good vines here. We do have a few that grow in Utah, but they order in grapes to add to thier wine. I'm thinking Oregon maybe. But I'll have a few years to prepare a good business plan before I do take a step like that. now I'm just experimenting with some vines in my backyard.

 

[OilnH2O]

We've enjoyed this discussion

(bravo to all!)-- and thought I'd suggest a book entitled "A Very Good Year, The Journey of a California Wine from vine to Table" by Mike Weiss. I got it at the local library.


While this is a commercial winery that's featured (Ferrari-Cararo) it goes through the whole bit and is an interesting account of all the steps in the process at aMID-size Sonoma countywinery. For those of you who are thinking of going commercial, this might have some ideas about all the ins and outs, including worrying about bugs, birds, and trying to pick at the EXACT right time. While the author sometimes gets sidetracked with the people involved (their problems, foibles, and even following some migrant workers to Mexico), it's enjoyable just to see what goes into the growing, vinting, aging, marketing, dealing with tourists and tasting rooms, distributors, etc.


My favorite quote about owning a vineyard and winery was that "...it takes a big fortune to make a small fortune!"