Sell Grapes or Bottle Wine? Vineyard Calculator

1. Your vineyard

Planted acres in production

Yield (tons per acre)

Your multi-year average, not your best year.

Growing cost per acre ($)

Labour, spray, trellis, water, insurance. Same on both paths.

Picking and hauling per ton ($)

Same on both paths unless your buyer picks.

2. Selling the fruit

Price per ton from a buyer ($)

Your contract or last year's price for this variety.

3. Making the wine

Cases of wine per ton

About 60 twelve-bottle cases is a common rule of thumb.

Loss in processing (%)

Winemaking and dry goods per case ($)

Custom crush or your cellar, bottles, corks, labels, cartons, lab.

Your own labour per case ($)

Cellar, bottling and admin time, valued at what you would pay for it.

Months the wine ages before it sells

Cost of your money (% a year)

What the cash would earn elsewhere or cost to borrow.

Excise and state tax per case sold ($)

Check your rate and any small-producer credit.

4. Selling the wine

Direct bottle price ($)

Tasting room, club, online.

Cost of direct sales (%)

Card fees, shipping, club costs.

Wholesale price you receive per bottle ($)

What you actually get from a distributor or retailer.

Bottles sold direct (%)

Bottled wine that sells (%)

Unsold stock counts as zero here. Be honest for a young brand.

Marketing and selling per case sold ($)

Tasting-room staff, events, samples, advertising.

Fixed winery costs per year ($)

Licences, insurance, accounting, label approval, storage.

Result

Questions vineyard owners ask

Should I sell my grapes or make wine?

Compare the two on the same acreage. Selling the fruit nets the price per ton times your tons, less growing and picking. Making wine nets the bottles you actually sell times what you keep per bottle, less winemaking, dry goods, labour, the money tied up while it ages, excise tax, marketing and fixed winery overhead, less the same growing cost. This tool puts the two side by side and shows which one is ahead at your figures.

How many cases of wine does a ton of grapes make?

A common rule of thumb is about 150 gallons, roughly 60 twelve-bottle cases, per ton of fruit before losses. Your figure depends on the variety, the press and how much you lose in processing; both are inputs here.

What sell-through do I need for bottling to beat selling fruit?

The tool finds the share of bottled wine you must sell for the two paths to tie, and shows the gap at sell-through from 40% to 100%. Unsold bottles are counted at zero, which is deliberately cautious.

How many acres does it take to justify a winery?

Fixed yearly costs such as licences, insurance and accounting are spread over every case. If each acre earns more as wine than as fruit, the tool shows the acreage above which the overhead is absorbed; if it never does, it says so.

Is this financial, tax or legal advice?

No. It is arithmetic on figures you type. Alcohol licensing, excise tax, labelling and shipping rules are set by federal, state and local law; check yours with a qualified professional.

Not decided

Whether you can get a licence, a label approval or a tasting-room permit, what your buyer will contract for in future years, vintage and price swings, how fast a new brand really sells, capital for equipment and a cellar, taxes, and your own time beyond the labour figure. Unsold wine is counted at zero rather than as stock worth something later. Every year is treated as the same typical year.