Starting My Own Vineyard

Hello Everyone - I am new to this forum and am excited to discuss wine with all of you. My wife and I are looking to plant a small vineyard in Northern CA (Amador or Placer County). We are going to be buying bare land and starting from scratch. I have been doing research and starting a business plan but I have not been able to find information on the cost involved in starting a vineyard from scratch. Does anyone know of any recourses that may help us?

Thank you.

Wesley

I am not ITB, but every time someone mentions starting a Vineyard (growing grapes) or Winery (using said grapes to make wine) it seems like the consensus opinion here is that it’s a good way to turn a large fortune into a small fortune. It’s hard work, esp. labor, not glamorous most of the time, and must be a passion to be enjoyable. But if it IS your passion it is very rewarding emotionally, and in other ways (occasionally financially rewarding, though not for the most part).

Again, take this with a grain of salt as I am not in the business. I am just summarizing what I hear most posters say when someone asks this question.

If this post discourages you, you probably weren’t cut out to do this anyways. If it doesn’t dissuade you at all, you’re probably just the right type of person to do this.

Barry - Thank you for the response. Yes, I have heard these things before and I am not looking at this vineyard as a way to make me wealthy but it is a passion of mine. I do not mind hard work and look forward to all of the challenges this will present. There is so much more to wine that money and I hope to take advantage of all of it.

Wesley,

Welcome to the board. How many acres? Will you be living there? Do you plan on starting a wine brand, or just make some for yourself?
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Depending on your site, water needs/source and MANY other factors, I’ll go out on a limb and say $12K to $20K per acre over the first 3 years with no returns over that time.

Best of luck.

Have you made wine before? Have you farmed land before?

Neither of these things are undertaken lightly and neither is easy. I’ve been doing the former for 18 years and am just starting to feel like I get it. I’ve been doing the latter for 45+ years and I’m not sure I really get it yet.

Thank you for the responses!

We are looking at a 5-10 acre property that we will live on and probably eventually get to 5 acres planted if we have the room.

I know it takes 3-4 years to get crops and 7-8 years for the vines to mature but eventually I will use them to make wine.

In the meantime I will buy grapes from quality sources and learn how to make my own wine. By the time my vines are ready to produce I will have wine making experience and be able to make wine with my grapes.

I realize that farming and making wine are difficult but I enjoy the challenge and am not afraid to get help when I need it.

I was expecting it to cost about $25,000 per acre to go from bare land to a vineyard but I am willing to do some of the work myself to help save on the cost.

Another thought is what type of grape(s) are you thinking of growing? Location often dictates what will grow and/or how well it will yield. A simple google search shows what’s growing well in Amador and Placer counties.

As far as buying grapes, I don’t think there are any borders. Maggie Harrison, Antica Terra Winery in Oregon, sources Syrah grapes from the White Hawk and Bien Nacido vineyards in the Santa Barbara area for her Lillian Syrah.

I have done research through UC Davis and it appears Zinfandel and Barbera grow really well here as well as Chenin Blanc.

Check that once in awhile. I am sure you already have ways you’re locating plantable land, but this could help.

Currently two for Amador:

Thank you! I use that site all the time.

If I could only get ahold of $1,3000,000.

Ray Walker, is that you?

No idea what the labor pool is like up in the foothills but I’m guessing it’s just as tight everywhere. If you have 2-3 acres (as long as planting density isn’t too crazy) you could do your own pruning/training for the first couple of years.

The guys in our area that have 5-15 acres are really in a tight spot. There’s just no extra help around. At times you can limp by with weekend guys that have another job but you’ll pay a premium.

Also having someone pop in and do tractor work can happen early on if you have neighbors you can pay to do it. Owning vineyard equipment for small parcels is costly as well.

At 5 acres, you might have a hard time rationalizing the tractor, sprayer, mower, disc purchases, but I’d do it anyway. Being dependent on someone else for operations where timing is critical, like spraying and wrangling a tractor at harvest, is the shits and will make your experience significantly worse.
As Casey said, 2-3 acres would be easy by yourself. Establishment is both labor and water intensive for the first couple years, so there would be some sense in planting in a couple phases, separated by 2 years. That would also give you time to learn how you want to do things before you need to give hired labor much direction. 5 acres is still at a size where you and someone else moonlighting from their other job can get it done. That said, knowing when to bring in extra help is a hard lesson to learn when you’re starting out. It’s way more expensive to recover from getting to things late than to hire help in a more timely manner.
Your grape growing neighbors are your best resource. You’ll need them for a million things – where to buy everything, who to drill your well, labor sources, choices of varieties and rootstock, etc. If you can wait to plant until you get to know those people and pick their brains, you’ll be ahead of the game. Another resource you can call right off the bat is the UCD Ag Extension person. I’m not sure that’s staffed like it used to be, but they’ll still be useful. I’d think they’d have regionally specific establishment cost estimates for you. I think you are in the ballpark, but they’ll know better.

Hi. I suggest you look at the back end first. To whom are you going to sell your wine? You do not have enough friends and relatives to buy 5 acres worth. It is very tough for small vineyards in today’s market place. I suggest you try to hook up with someone in the restaurant business.
To answer your question the cost of planting depends on your vine and row spacing. Assuming 4’ between the vines and 8’ between the rows the cost down here, Santa Rita Hills, is $40,000/acre. My understanding is Northern California wage rates are $2-$4 more per hour than here. The cost of the equipment to farm 5 acres is the same as the cost to farm 50 acres. Depending on whether you buy new or used you are in the $80,000 range for a tractor, sprayer, discer, bins, bin trailer, scale and mower. during harvest you will need either a forklift for your tractor to remove the bins from the trailer or rent a fork lift.

Poor guy’s prolly getting more information than he wanted!

I use to have a fantasy that if I won the lottery I’d buy/start a vineyard and be a gentleman farmer. After talking with some growers and following this thread over the years I decided I would plant a Christmas tree farm instead.

Casey: did you ever re-schedule/take your vacation Africa?

Are there vines available that grow actual bottles of rich, luxurious Cabernet wine instead of, shudder, Cabernet grapes?!?

Hey Sean,

As much as I miss it, I think I’m done with Africa. I dream of a cape buffalo hunt some day but the economics seem out of reach. Three trips will have to be enough. I’m really concentrating on North American game the next couple of years which are physically demanding and more affordable.

Wesley - Welcome to the board. To me you should really understand your watering needs for the acreage and vine spacing planned. The reason for the focus is that water can be an expensive resource to get with land. The other thing I would look at are the county/town property tax rules for farm/forest/open land. My state has a public act that allows all kinds of land to be taxed at a fraction of value when greater than 25 acres. My 42 acres is taxed currently at - $350 per year. On the vines do your homework. Barbera where you are looking can be problematic as the cool nights do not allow for acidity to diminish. As a consequence grapes hang a long time to bring acidity down but the brix are sky high leading to some watering down to get balance. Stephen brought up some key points on where your wine will be marketed and who your customers will be.

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