Fruit wines commercial feasibility!

[kash]

I am new in wine business. Have a question, most of the fruit wines are available in the market or is it just made for fun?
Has anyone made date wine and if yes, how was it? How big ($$$) is the fruit wine market in general?

 

[Runningwolf]

It's huge if you don't have access to grapes. Even living in the Niagara Region there are wineries that only do fruit. But like anything, if you make lousy wine you're business will be also. If you make good fruit wine and market it well you'll do OK.

 

[Wade E]

Commercially Im surprised I dont see more fruit wines on the shelves in wine stores but like Runningwolf there are a few wineries locally making it and doing ok. Never made Date wine although I have made my date using wine!!!!!!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Never made Date wine although I have made my date using wine!!!!!!!

 

[Savana123]

What to say!!!

 

[e-wine]

kash,

I have not made date wine but I do provide Jack Keller's assessment:

"I have made date wine several times with mixed results. Most of it is okay, but some is exceptional. The quality of the dates undoubtedly has something to do with this, but so does age. Young date wine is far, far inferior to well-aged date wine. If you are going to make this wine, plan on setting it aside for two or three years and let it really shine when you drink it."


I do know of a lot of wineries making fruit or country wines. As for the cost, how much does it cost to make grape wine? I've seen retail prices for grape wines over $40.00 a bottle all the way down to "two buck Chuck". So it all reduces to your basic cost model regardless of what your fermenting. That's my 2 cents.

e-wine

 

[Midwest Vintner]

i just started a commercial winery that will be open in '11. even with my model, it's not a cheap endevour. there are many laws and regulations on top of insurance and permits to buy. it's has not been easy to say the least. we don't plan on getting rich.

i've heard, "if you want to make a small fortune in the wine business, start with a large one."

there are certain fruits that are more profitable. the key is price of fruit per gal of wine and don't skimp on flavor. so, it is feasable to buy pears at say $1.75 and you need about 4-6 lbs minimum. at 6 lbs/ gal you have a wine that is $10.50/gal of wine. there are 5 bottles per gallon and you see that it's about $2.10 for just the fruit. with all the other things to make a bottle, it's about $3.15-3.30 per bottle. then you have to manage overhead and tastings. or you could just try and sell it retail without tastings as tastings are supposed to take about 7-10% of your wine.

not to mention you have to buy tanks, heat/cooling for a building, water, waste (and believe me there is alot to deal with there) and run a tasting room to boot!

 

[Ron22]

I know this is an old thread but.
Look at Amana Colonies in Iowa. There are a bunch of small wineries and all they do is fruit wines.
http://www.amanacolonies.org/wineandbrew.htm

 

[GerardVineyard]

i've heard, "if you want to make a small fortune in the wine business, start with a large one."

That is the same as a restaurant... " How do you make a million dollars in the restaurant business, start with 2 million."