Wine

Grow Your Own

Getting a Grasp on the Vitals of Viticulture

    Many folks picture a typical winery as one that grows its own grapes from which it then makes the wine. In fact, the majority of wineries in the United States purchase grapes from independent growers. The winemakers and growers usually work closely together to create a viable starting product. This division of labor occurs in France, too. Many of the famous chateaux of Bordeaux do grow their own grapes, but in the country’s largest wine-growing region, in the south along the Mediterranean, growers sell to wineries or participate in cooperatives to make wine that might be sold in bulk product to other wineries or negociants.
    If the life of a wine grower and grape supplier appeals to you because of the country lifestyle and fresh air, you should know that, just like making wine, planting a successful vineyard and managing it for premium grape production and profitability is a very involved and costly process. So before you decide to take the leap, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked—and answered: Where should my vineyard be located? What kind of grapes should I plant? How much will it cost to plant, farm and harvest the fruit? Who am I going to get to pay me a fair price for my grapes?
    As a general rule, premium grapes for mid-priced to expensive wines need to be planted in coastal climates where cool nights and warm days are the rule, or in hilly or mountainous areas, such as the Sierra foothills, with good airflow. (The goal is a climate that allows grapes to mature properly on the vine.) Land costs vary widely: Uncultivated land in Napa Valley can go for $100,000 to $200,000 per acre, while just to the north, in Lake County, raw land can be had for $20,000 to $30,000 per acre; in Sonoma, per-acre prices can range from $50,000 to $100,000.
    Once you have purchased your beautiful vineyard site, and have secured a contract from a winery to plant a certain varietal, then you’re ready to prep the land and lay out the vineyard—if you had the foresight to order your vines two years in advance. (You can find stragglers in nurseries, but that is not the best way to go.) Vineyards today are generally planted with a rootstock that is compatible with the soil; then the individual varietal you’re going to cultivate is grafted onto the rootstock using a bud from a mature vine. This means that a plant can actually be changed from a Cabernet Sauvignon vine, say, to a Chardonnay vine simply by cutting off the top and grafting the new bud onto the trunk. This process is called T-budding.
    Planting and training costs can run from $25,000 to $40,000 an acre, depending on the terrain and the planting density. It generally takes three years from planting to get a small viable crop, and five years to get up to full production. In the mean time, you’ll probably need to keep your day job or live off your savings.
    Every year, you will need to prune the mature vines and train the young ones. In addition, the vineyard will need weed and gopher control, mold and mildew control, and an adequate water supply—applied at the right time along with necessary nutrients.
    So let’s break down the economics of cultivating a 1-acre Pinot Noir vineyard in the Russian River Valley. (We’ll assume that you’ve kept your day job and are paying a management company to do the farming. And you ordered your vines two years in advance, because you planned well.) We’ve got $80,000 in land costs, $30,000 in planting costs, $4,000 an acre in farming costs for three years, plus approximately $2,000 per acre per year in taxes. So over the first three years we’ve incurred $128,000 in costs.
    The first crop will probably yield about two tons; presuming it sells for about $3,500 per ton, that brings in $7,000 in income. Your crop level should go up to about four tons per acre, and your income up to $14,000 a year, but you’ll still need to pay the $4,000 annually for farming and picking. At this rate, you’ll break even in 12 years, unless you’ve had to borrow the money to fund your vineyard, which could add another six to eight years to your break-even point.
    Grape farming is definitely a long-term investment: That’s the reason so many vintners opt to buy their grapes from growers. So if you find Mother Nature calling out to you, just be prepared to hug her for a long time, and toast her repeatedly with a good glass of wine.