Vineyard Management
- Water Management
- A typical vineyard uses 750 gallons of water per acre per hour.
- Irrigation: 2-3 acre feet for raisin/wine grapes, 4 acre feet for table grapes.
- Yield is maximized with 80% of estimated water need.
Grape Growing and Production
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Vineyard Operations
- Grapevines can take three years to bear fruit.
- Pruning affects fruit production.
- Planting one acre of grapes costs $22,000 on average.
- A deer fence for one acre costs $7,000.
- 700-800 vines are planted per acre at $4 per vine.
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Yield and Revenue
- For wine grapes, 5 tons per acre yield $11,000 revenue.
- Harvest and costs are $5,150.
- Grapes currently average $2,845 per ton.
- Vines produce in three years.
Wine Production
- Wine Making
- Wineries make a 70% profit on wine.
- Vineyards achieve a 50% gross margin.
- Grape demand and price must remain high for profit.
Grapes and Wine Relationship
- Productivity and Quality
- One vine yields 4,000 grapes for 10 bottles of wine.
- Vines produce 1-12 tons when mature, with 3-5 tons per acre being optimal.
- Table grapes yield more than wine grapes.
How much wine does one acre of grapevines produce?
An acre of vineyard can produce anywhere from 120 to 600 cases of wine, translating to 1,440 to 7,200 bottles.
Additional Grape Growing Insights
- The number of wine grape vines per acre varies between 400 to 1,200.
- Row spacing influences sun exposure.
- If yields exceed 6 tons per acre, clusters are removed to improve quality.
- Grapevines live 50 to 100 years with care.