So You Wanna Start a Winery?
If nobody has yet been successful in talking you out of it, Congratulations. You are starting a winery! First and foremost, download this document to keep handy when converting tons of grapes to bottles of wine. You will need it when you are ordering supplies and winery equipment. It will help you plan wine tank sizes, number of wine barrels needed, wine bottles needed, how many wine corks to order, etc.
Turning the light of the sun into the shimmer in the glass is a very romantic pursuit. I live this experience vicariously, thanks to our customers. And our office has been home to a few interesting "hobby winemaker" projects. It has become apparent to this supplier that this pursuit will simultaneously satisfy the core of your being and torture your mortal soul. Well, sort of.
Do you plan to hire the winemaker or make the wine yourself? Are you already making wine, but need to get a little better at it? One tremendous resource for learning more about making wine is VESTA. This is a great way to keep your day job and become a Winemaker on your schedule.You should also consider the various colleges and universities in your area if time permits. Contact your local winery and ask to be a free intern to bring your level of familiarity with a bucket and a hose up to speed before you take the plunge.
How do I start a winery?
I would start a folder under the bookmarks tab on your computer and bookmark a link to our home page.
Learning how to start a winery from those who have gone before you is priceless. Click this link to see a list of local associations. Please do not go any further until you have reviewed and bookmarked this web page.Please pay particular attention to: The Dollars and Sense of Starting a Small Winery By Chris Stamp. Mr. Stamp is Winemaker at Lakewood Vineyards in the Finger Lakes region of New York State and I consider him a friend. I trust his advice.
There are three classic ways to start a winery:
1. Buy One (self explanatory)
2. Plant a vineyard. Here is a link to a page full of interesting articles and contacts for viticulture. Growing wine grapes is truly a partnership with Mother Nature. It is best to start off on her good side.
There are many resources available to you when looking to start a vineyard. The number of questions relevant to site selection, soil conditioning, aspect, varietal compatibility, rootstock or nursery stock selection, spacing, trellising, canopy management, disease prevention or treatment, etc. is seemingly limitless. The best thing you can do is consult academia prior to buying anything. Your state or regional resources for agriculture are probably more helpful than you imagine.
The vineyard is already planted? Sell fruit starting in year three, use the money from the fruit to show revenue, then:
A. Borrow a ton of money and build the perfect winery (with a perfect crushpad) next to the vineyard. Take advantage of all that the site has to offer. Think in advance about the old concept that it is cheaper to build up than to build out during new construction. Take advantage of gravity feed whenever possible. The tourists love that.
-or-
B. Use a more humble location and pay a neighbor to make wine for you out of your grapes.
3. Focus on Retail Wine Sales First
Get a fantastic location, plant two rows of vines for scenery. Get product on the shelf by having a neighbor make some of their wine for you until you can gradually undertake more and more of the production work. Keep this going while margins on retail wine sales increase to the point that the capital investment for process equipment is justified.
You would buy your fruit in this model. Why not put the growers' names on the labels? This is industry is synergistic by nature. And its the only one where competition helps everyone. Start by bottling at home, then fermenting at home, then doing crush at home. This is when you will need all those shiny things. But remember: Don't feel obligated to buy a huge, automated bottling line unless you have no way of hiring a mobile bottler or having your wine bottled for you elsewhere.
Any path that leads to starting a winery must start at building a business plan. In the spreadsheet sense, that takes about 16 hours; if you're good. The part that will take more time than anything else (other than actually running the winery and doing the WORK), is toiling over what equipment and barrels and tanks and refrigeration and pumps and hardware to use to reduce the initial capital expense. In all seriousness, read this page on our site called "How to Buy Winery Equipment". You will find that buying it right the first time is a decision you need to make. That said, you will endure the torture of licensing as well. Please contact Patty McRitchie for help on that.
All reliable sources say that it takes up to seven years to enter profitability.
Some hints for profitability:
There are many different stages and stations in life which lead to winery ownership. And somewhere along the way, you will notice that there are many suppliers out there who offer what you want and only a few who know what you need.
Supplier comparisons from industry to industry often result in a poorer impression of the wine industry vendor, supplier, or salesperson. To quote an anonymous vineyard and winery owner in our territory, "Customer service in the wine industry is notoriously bad.....". This is a reality with some vendors.
If you would like to put us to the test, you can ask us about wine bottles, barrels, oak alternatives, barrel racks, corks, destemmers, presses, pumps, hoses, and even things we don't sell; because we know who does. We can also help you with tanks, ozone, barrel washing, , etc.
In so many words, ENOTOOLS is the comprehensive resource for commercial winery businesses east of The Rockies; On a minimally limited basis.
Have a great day!
Turning the light of the sun into the shimmer in the glass is a very romantic pursuit. I live this experience vicariously, thanks to our customers. And our office has been home to a few interesting "hobby winemaker" projects. It has become apparent to this supplier that this pursuit will simultaneously satisfy the core of your being and torture your mortal soul. Well, sort of.
Do you plan to hire the winemaker or make the wine yourself? Are you already making wine, but need to get a little better at it? One tremendous resource for learning more about making wine is VESTA. This is a great way to keep your day job and become a Winemaker on your schedule.You should also consider the various colleges and universities in your area if time permits. Contact your local winery and ask to be a free intern to bring your level of familiarity with a bucket and a hose up to speed before you take the plunge.
How do I start a winery?
I would start a folder under the bookmarks tab on your computer and bookmark a link to our home page.
Learning how to start a winery from those who have gone before you is priceless. Click this link to see a list of local associations. Please do not go any further until you have reviewed and bookmarked this web page.Please pay particular attention to: The Dollars and Sense of Starting a Small Winery By Chris Stamp. Mr. Stamp is Winemaker at Lakewood Vineyards in the Finger Lakes region of New York State and I consider him a friend. I trust his advice.
There are three classic ways to start a winery:
1. Buy One (self explanatory)
2. Plant a vineyard. Here is a link to a page full of interesting articles and contacts for viticulture. Growing wine grapes is truly a partnership with Mother Nature. It is best to start off on her good side.
There are many resources available to you when looking to start a vineyard. The number of questions relevant to site selection, soil conditioning, aspect, varietal compatibility, rootstock or nursery stock selection, spacing, trellising, canopy management, disease prevention or treatment, etc. is seemingly limitless. The best thing you can do is consult academia prior to buying anything. Your state or regional resources for agriculture are probably more helpful than you imagine.
The vineyard is already planted? Sell fruit starting in year three, use the money from the fruit to show revenue, then:
A. Borrow a ton of money and build the perfect winery (with a perfect crushpad) next to the vineyard. Take advantage of all that the site has to offer. Think in advance about the old concept that it is cheaper to build up than to build out during new construction. Take advantage of gravity feed whenever possible. The tourists love that.
-or-
B. Use a more humble location and pay a neighbor to make wine for you out of your grapes.
3. Focus on Retail Wine Sales First
Get a fantastic location, plant two rows of vines for scenery. Get product on the shelf by having a neighbor make some of their wine for you until you can gradually undertake more and more of the production work. Keep this going while margins on retail wine sales increase to the point that the capital investment for process equipment is justified.
You would buy your fruit in this model. Why not put the growers' names on the labels? This is industry is synergistic by nature. And its the only one where competition helps everyone. Start by bottling at home, then fermenting at home, then doing crush at home. This is when you will need all those shiny things. But remember: Don't feel obligated to buy a huge, automated bottling line unless you have no way of hiring a mobile bottler or having your wine bottled for you elsewhere.
Any path that leads to starting a winery must start at building a business plan. In the spreadsheet sense, that takes about 16 hours; if you're good. The part that will take more time than anything else (other than actually running the winery and doing the WORK), is toiling over what equipment and barrels and tanks and refrigeration and pumps and hardware to use to reduce the initial capital expense. In all seriousness, read this page on our site called "How to Buy Winery Equipment". You will find that buying it right the first time is a decision you need to make. That said, you will endure the torture of licensing as well. Please contact Patty McRitchie for help on that.
All reliable sources say that it takes up to seven years to enter profitability.
Some hints for profitability:
- Keep salary expenses down by using interns and volunteers. People love wineries. Harvest helpers can be free and even somewhat handy. Festival volunteers are typically easy to get with facebook status updates and twitter tweets.
- Offer a share of ownership after several years to key people as a way to make your compensation package appealing and help retain staff- avoid re-training.
- Buy used big- dollar items when you can support them locally. Buy new when you cannot. The warranty will serve you well.
- Cheap bottles. This will enable less change parts in bottling, normal, off- the- shelf capsules, corks, less freight charges for the lighter glass, etc.
- Put quality in the bottle. The real cost of what is in the bottle of wine goes beyond what grapes, corks, marketing, labor, etc. cost. It is roughly double that if you consider the time value of your money and the opportunity cost of your career. Wine well made is time well spent.
- Put a nice label and a nice capsule over your natural/ natural- based closure. Don't agree? Here is where you will find a compelling argument.
There are many different stages and stations in life which lead to winery ownership. And somewhere along the way, you will notice that there are many suppliers out there who offer what you want and only a few who know what you need.
Supplier comparisons from industry to industry often result in a poorer impression of the wine industry vendor, supplier, or salesperson. To quote an anonymous vineyard and winery owner in our territory, "Customer service in the wine industry is notoriously bad.....". This is a reality with some vendors.
If you would like to put us to the test, you can ask us about wine bottles, barrels, oak alternatives, barrel racks, corks, destemmers, presses, pumps, hoses, and even things we don't sell; because we know who does. We can also help you with tanks, ozone, barrel washing, , etc.
In so many words, ENOTOOLS is the comprehensive resource for commercial winery businesses east of The Rockies; On a minimally limited basis.
Have a great day!
