How to Build a Wine Vineyard

Choose the right land to buy. Local authorities can help you determine the size of the vineyard and other permitting details. Check for water and electricity supplies. Is the land suitable for growing grapes? Is it relatively flat, or is it perhaps too hilly to support a vineyard? How much water will your vineyard require? Is there a well on the property? These are all considerations to make before making a purchase to start a vineyard. Again, local authorities and other winegrowers can help you answer detailed questions.

Build your wine trellises. You will need posts (steel or wood, wood preferred), spaced according to your desired vine spacing, which could vary from 21, 24, or 28 feet, to even smaller distances. You will need strong end-posts. Anchored posts work well for rows smaller than 600 feet. Braced rows, with an H-brace or slant brace are needed for rows longer than 600 feet. You will also need high-tensile galvanized steel wire. Wine trellises can be as simple as a single wire held by posts to a much more complicated system. It all depends upon your resources, goals, and budget.

Choose the right grapes for your particular soil. That is first and foremost. And among these grapes you will find a variety, some for red wine, others for white, and still others for blushes. How you plant the grapes depends upon the size of the harvest you are looking for. There is a wide range of choice in planting, depending upon your particular type of grape and the yield you are seeking.

Decide whether to make the wine yourself or to sell the grapes to a larger vineyard. Making the wine yourself may seem rewarding, but prepare to invest in quite a bit of equipment such as oak barrels, wine tanks, presses, and desteamers. If you plan to use steel tanks to ferment and store the wine, then those are on your list as well, as oak barrels are rather expensive. After the wine has aged for a minimum of two years, you will need bottling and corking supplies and equipment. For smaller wineries, it might be a better choice to sell to a larger vineyard than to invest in so much expensive equipment.