This is what I thought cinsault or small reds or refreshing whites no rosé tho not very welcome in lebanon
I will 100% buy grapes I will start visiting vineyards in the new year
Okay so I got a good job at a wine bar with my calculations it will save me around 6000$ by harvest time. I have a place to make the wines. I will purchase the grapes from independant farmers, I won’t use oak and new barrels, I will build a lot of equipment myself if i can and purchase only what I have to. I want to start with some easy to drink easy to sell wines then scale
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You’ll need a press that can convert grapes to liters effectively.
He’s in Lebanon.
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My advice is that I’m guessing almost no one on this board knows anything about the Lebanon marketplace for wine. Including me! They may know what sells in the US, Canada, and Western Europe, but for wine consumer habits in Lebanon?
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I know that. What’s your point?
The prices may be considerably lower there compared to those of, say, the US?
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Exactly. Winery economics are probably completely different halfway across the globe.
Story of my life, baby…
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I posted prices known to me as a heads up to the OP that making wine ain’t cheap since he said he could not get investors.
How are the input costs in the US relevant to the OPs question about what kind of wine they should make in Lebanon?
As someone who made the same choice you did in 2005, here is what I would always keep in mind. You must be able to answer all of the following BEFORE you begin.
- Why should someone buy your wine regularly, over the other wines trying to accomplish the same thing? The following list is not a viable answer…
- Because my wine is good
- Because it is natural
- Because it is cheaper
- Because I have passion
- What wine brand that I admire is doing it well and what can I learn from them? Can I learn from them from within?
- There has to be a wine, or wines, that you tasted and wished to emulate. Wines that inspired you. Find out what they do well and learn from it. I started by working for someone (Aaron Pott) who made a wine I really liked. I learned from him, saving time and money. Experience is leverage.
- How will I find my customers?
- It’s a tight marketplace. Direct sales are in decline. Retail is in decline and many sellers do not wish to take on an unproven brand. How will you cut through that?
- How much cash (investments) do I have and how long do I have until I burn through it all?
- Once you are out of money and need to eat, if you are not profitable, you are done. It is not hard to make that calculation but most businesses don’t like to consider failure. Failure must be at the front of your mind or you will drift to dreams instead of business.
- Can I start small and part-time?
- Having a day job in the industry while you slowly build is the best way to begin. There is so much to learn and by starting small, you gain knowledge without being “all in” with no backstop. It vastly extends the life of question #4 and allows you more time to build up answers to #3.
I love that you are trying and hope you succeed!
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I would add one more thing to the suggestions and that is: I see a fatal flaw made in not only wine, but almost all businesses, and that is the old Las Vegas-romance of: If We Build It, They’ll Come.
No.
In wine, this takes the form of the winemaker thinking it’s just enough to make a banging wine. But here’s the problem - they won’t find you. The sad reality is that you’ll be much more successful making shitty wine, but knowing how to sell and market, than the other way around. This is one of the tragedies of humanity - quality matters very little in the grander scheme of thing.
So put all your effort into a plan on how to sell it. The old adage, “making the wine is the easy part, selling it is the hard part” has never been more true than it is today.
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I’ll chime in too, having started my winery in 2007 after twelve years making wine as my sole job. However much money you have, divide it equally for your first three years so that you can ride it through the slow start.
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I recommend you dive in as you see fit, leveraging all the goodwill and connections that you have. You live once. You’re in a country not many of/none of these well-meaning advice-givers are familiar with as intimately as yourself. Just go for it, make mistakes, make more mistakes, and hopefully we will see you on the other side of the meat grinder with more wrinkles and experience and a growing business that you founded with pure grit and determination.
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THIS
I would try to find a buyer before you even make the wine if possible. Start small and wait to scale up until you can actually sell a whole vintage. If you can break even you are winning
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Just go for it and make mistakes?
He will be lucky if the outcome isn’t;
Hey, remember that guy Yorgo that used to make wine?
At least you didn’t suggest that he dial up Ray Walker for some pointers.
Ray Walker had no problem “selling” wine.
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I’ll buy a case when you release your first wine.
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