wxtrendsguy
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2010
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Hey welcome to my life Hokapsig except I don't do drunkfests....90% DTC is the way to go...
Thank you for sharing and giving insight to your journey. Sending positive energy and prayers for successful outcomes!as the 1Q of 2019 draws to a close, we have made the decision to buy property for our winery and tasting room. After 5 years of looking at properties and building our business, we found a nice elderly lady with a 30 acre farm that is too much for her to take care of. A friend who is a neighbor to her notified us that she wanted to sell off 5 acres and we should go and look at the property, As we drove over, the lady was out checking her mail. We stopped and inquired about the 5 acres, to which she said, no, the 5 acres was not for sale, but the 30 acres WAS for sale. We explained our desire to own a winery/tasting room and to stop yet another farm from being turned into a housing plan. We wanted to keep t700he farm, which had been a dairy farm in her youth, as a farm. She quickly warmed to our story and our desire for a winery and to preserve the farm.
We quickly agreed on a more than fair price, and the farm includes 2 houses, 2 barns and 2 garages. We are now learning about zoning and septic systems. Since the zoning is agricultural, this fit perfectly with a winery, as we would be an ancillary business (using fruit to make wine). HOWEVER, for a winery in our township, the zoning requires that we produce over half of our wine from crops grown on site. I then informed the township that it takes 4 to 5 years to bring in a crop of grapes and that we could not comply with owning a farm with no way to recoup our costs. We were told to request a variance (as whoever wrote these rules had no clue about growing grapes). HOWEVER, it costs $700 and will take 2 months to find out if our request is granted. We are waiting for May so that our hearing can be scheduled.
However, should we get a favorable variance ruling, then we need to get on the schedule for the planning commission, which will take an additional 2 months. The site plan will cost about $12K. (a lot of money for a non-value add expenditure). We have already completed our soil test inspection (about $1K), the state inspection of the soil passed, and in PA, you need a primary septic area AND a secondary area. We have just completed the perc test and will turn in the results to the township on Monday. The septic system will cost about $80 to $120K, depending on the amount of people we want the system sized to, We initially asked for a system to accommodate 150 people, but if we want to host weddings at the winery, we will need a larger system. In addition, no wine making wastes or cleaning waters can be put down a septic system in PA (a new law in PA).
Our next hurdle is to seek access from the state highway to our winery. In the meantime, we are looking at which grapes could grow and be successful, as well as berry bushes and fruit trees, We are also looking at metal pole buildings which we can tailor into a tasting room (we want it to look like a barn so as to blend into the farm theme). We have been visiting wineries and asking questions about what is good and what to avoid, Today we spoke with a bee keeper to have him site his bees on the farm which would pollinate our crops and produce some honey. There is ALWAYS a problem that needs solving,
We are at times VERY frustrated with the system. We will be tapping in to the public water system, however, that will require about 3K in a tap in fee, plus about 500 feet of water line, plus backflow preventor. we still don't know what we don't know.
you have no idea what this means to us, MANY thanks for your positive thoughts.Thank you for sharing and giving insight to your journey. Sending positive energy and prayers for successful outcomes!
very many thanks!!!Congrats and best wishes, Ho. Living the dream! (Even if that is sometimes downright scary!) Best of luck seeing your vision coming to fruition.
we don't like the drunk fests, and we have learned that to shut off the tastings with 20 minutes left in the show. People just looking for more to drink and they aren't buying. We had a lady throw a snit in the last 15 minutes of a 4 hour show that only had 8 wineries. She wanted to taste before her "purchase" but where was she the previous 3 and a half hours?Hey welcome to my life Hokapsig except I don't do drunkfests....90% DTC is the way to go...
trying to research the grapes to plant, though Concord may be the initial answer, along with the berry plants. We have to incorporate the crop into our wines and we can use some of the concord to do that, along with the berries..
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