Other sources of information Santa Rosa JC has a great viticulture program. UC Davis offers weekend and weekly courses and Sonoma State University now offers a wine MBA program. There are variety of textbooks, mostly of dubious quality. Sunlight Into Wine by Richard Smart is the most recommended.

Some people have vineyards because they like to grow grapes and are perfectly happy having someone else turn those grapes in to wine. Other people grow grapes because THEY WANT TO MAKE WINE. Making your own wine is actually a lot of fun even if it never sees the light of day. There are lots

Dollars per ton for grapes – $2,000 Barrels per ton – 2.9 Barrels per acre (at 5 tons to the acre) – 14.4 Cases per barrel – 23 Cases per acre – 335 Dollars per case for grapes – $36 Dollars for winemaking per case – $12 Dollars for materials per case (box, bottle, foil,

The most important decision you’ll have to make – one that you will have to live with for the life of your vineyard – is what varieties of grape to plant. But before we get into the different varieties, we should define a few terms. Variety – For our discussion variety means a sub-species of vitus

Courting wineries is a lot like lining up a date for the prom. Right now there aren’t enough Sonoma County grapes to go around and wineries have to compete for available fruit. Take advantage and drop by wineries to talk about your vineyard. You’ll get lots of free stuff and maybe a free meal or

Growing wine grapes is a business—a good business. Despite the uncertainties of the marketplace, unpredictability of the weather and the vagaries of farming, growing wine grapes can produce a good income year after year if the vineyard is well run and well marketed. Fortunately, once the vineyard is in the ground, the costs to operate

1. How much land does a horse need? As an average, you should figure that 2 horses need about an acre of land. The county also places limitations on the number of horses allowed in certain areas. 2. Safe pasture If the property has pasture, then you need to make sure the pasture is safe

Once you find a property that fits your requirements, you can start evaluating that particular parcel—but what makes land suitable for a vineyard? This is a subject that people discuss for hours and hours. To start with, it is easier to say what land isn’t suitable for planting. Soils with slopes that exceed 50%. Soils