As a writer, I want to make sure my numbers are accurate for an upcoming piece.
Let’s say a producer has 100 acres under vine, and all acres are actively producing.
This producer makes 50,000 cases of wine each year.
How many tons per acre would they need to producer in order to have all cases come from estate grapes?
How many cases could they produce if they averaged 4 tons per acre on their 100 acres?
I’ve worked this out on my own, but I want to make sure I’m correct. Many thanks.
We used to figure 55-60 cases per ton. So if they harvest 400 tons, they’d produce somewhere between 22,000 and 24,000 cases. To make 50,000 cases from the 100 acres, they’d be cropping at roughly 8 tons/acre.
FWIW, I’ve heard that grapes grown on adjoining property can be considered estate grown as well - haven’t read the regs and don’t know if it’s true of not.
Confirmed.
4 tons per acre
165 Gallons per ton
10% Aging shrinkage
2.4 gallons per case
= 24k cases
I’d been researching this as I was interested in making a batch for myself and friends at a local custom crush facility. I was told it was about 1,000 lbs grapes to make a standard barrel (including extra juice for topping); a barrel being 23-24 cases. Thus, a ton would make two barrels, and so on. I gave up on the idea for now…
Question: I’ve never heard of a vineyard growing more than four tons per acre and I know the trend is to make it less tonnage per acre to get more concentrated grapes; what grapes can be properly grown to net the greatest tons/acre?
TTB rules require that for estate labeling the producer must either own or lease the vineyards and in the case of leasing they have to have been in control for a minmum of 5 years.
There are lots of vineyards going way over 4 tons per acre.
The Central Valley may be cropping some grapes at over ten tons per acre.
In the EU the rough equivalent is 15-18 hl/ha = to one ton of grapes. The maximum yield for VdP in France is 90 hl/ha. In Alsace the yield max is 80hl/ha + 20% PLC in good years for a total of 88hl/ha. You will find some napa cab being cropped at over 5 tons/acre.
It really depends on the grape variety and the grapes ability to produce quality at high yields; pinot noir not so much, cabernet absolutely.
Right, Mark, but I simply wish there were some way to confirm cropping info. For example, 2 tons per acre is the in-vogue target of Pinot producers. But are they really cropping at that level, or are they trained to tell reporters that? Riesling can do well at higher croploads, but some producers like to say that they crop everything at 2 tons because they think it sounds good.
I think it is probably a little of both. I don’t think confirmation is possible on a large scale. With pinot I think you are more likely to get a more acurate picture unless of course you are in the Languedoc (RE red bicyclette)
I don’t know of any Pinot producers (they may exist) who explicitly try to get to 2 tons per acre. 3 tons per acre approximately seems to be more the norm around Sonoma County. Some sites a little less because of growing conditions (shallow rocky soils, hillside vineyards, proximity to the coast, frost damage, etc). some maybe a little more.
I’ve seen Sauv Blanc produce 6-7 tons per acre, IIRC.
As noted, lots of vineyards are cropped at over 4 tons/acre, and not just the cheap Central Valley fruit. Cab and Sauvignon Blanc have been mentioned, and Syrah is another variety that you’ll see yielding 5+ tons/acres in some vineyards.
I know lots of them, but they’re all in Oregon.
And probably not your favorite producers either
Tony, EVERYONE crops at that level except for the plonkmeisters. One cluster per shoot. Two tons is a HIGH yield.
Wow. Had no idea. 3-4 toms per acre seems to be the norm (frost and other issues aside) in Ca Pinot vineyards.
Yep. Here in cool-climateville there are strangely about two dozen Pinot producers, and about 20 of them are making drecky Pinot cropped at 4-5 tons. The true devotees pay growers by the acre, not by the ton, and they contract to keep yields at 2 tons or less. The difference is stunning.
When I worked at Chalone we could take the neighbors’ fruit and call it Estate, the neighbors being Michael Michaud and the Brosseau Vineyard. The BATF (now TTB) rules back then said that the fruit had to be within the same appellation as the estate, and the vineyards had to be farmed by the estate, or at least have the farming directed by the estate.
The first time I ever picked fruit during harvest was on a Zinfandel vineyard near Modesto in 1991: 18 tons per acre.
In the harvest of 1997 I saw high quality Chardonnay come in at 8 tons per acre, PN at 6 tons per acre. That was definitely an exception. The 2006 vintage was a huge one for PN in Sonoma, but probably most vineyards were under 5 tons per acre. Lately ('05, '07, '08 and '09) we’ve seen under 2 tons per acre on PN in Sonoma, at least in most of the vineyards I work with.
In Oregon, paying by the acre has been around for some producers for about 20 years.
OMG What kind of trellis was this on, GDC or just CA sprawl?
Arcadian. Atlhough vineyard and vintage conditions ultimately prevail, Joe aims for a maximum production of 30-35 hectoliters/hectare, roughly the equivalent of 2-2.25 tons/acre.
A couple of examples (quotes from website):
DISCLOSURE: I have a commercial interest in Arcadian Winery.
Mark, it was a good old sprawl. Sure was an incredible experience for my first harvest. No one told me to wear long sleeves. I sure got scratched up. At close to 60 pounds of fruit per vine (6 x 12 spacing) at least I didn’t have to walk very far.