Starting a Winery Some questions to ask when thinking about establishing a winery

Lifestyle Is it for you? Is this a retirement income? Social aspect working with friends/family. Do you really want to work weekends? Very labor intensive Running tasting room yourself / friends Bottle with friends and family, make it fun?

What is it you want to do? Type of Wine What style of wines to make Sweet / dry wines, appeal to every one Fruit wines, native / concentrate / fresh fruit Grape based wines / vinifera / hybrid local Cooking wines Sacramental wines Mead

What is it you want to do? Type of Winery Tasting room only, small and intimate Full service /meeting rooms, catering, weddings, buses, tour groups Retail only or wholesale? Custom labels for weddings & special events Music on weekends outside in summer, inside in winter keeps people around to spend more money, makes it a day destination

Exit Strategy Privately owned business vs.: LLC, corporation, cooperative Direct sale / keep in the family, employee buy out? Caution: naming winery after wife or yourself reduces blue sky value. Investment, sell recover cost + profit

Licensing Local requirements / County regulations State requirements Federal requirements Recommend obtaining local permits first, time consuming and can be complicated Obtain federal permits second, state will usually follow the lead from the federal approval Have business plan & feasibility study done

Location, Location, Location Position yourself for ease of access to traveling public Marketing cost proportional to distance you are from pocket books Rich people with expensive cars/Harleys hate to drive on gravel roads If possible create a destination involving other wineries or farmers markets in your area.

Capital Intensive Using an engineer and architect can cost up to ($10,000) Instead draw basic design on napkin; doors, windows, overhead door, ceiling height and supplies you want to use for building For +/- $1,000 building supply company’s can give you blueprint, bill of materials, all engineered to state building code, ready for construction Use local builder whose quality you trust and will build at a percent of the cost of the materials they touch.

Capital Intensive Using a building supply company, you will know building cost up front, before you start 1640 sq ft enough for 6,000 gallon winery with a 300 sq ft tasting room and unisex ADA compliant bathroom all within building If you own land minimal sit prep, building will cost about $100K with all water, electrical, LP building fixtures in place Using existing building? May be more involved and costly than new building

Its all about how you look Have vineyard large enough to look like a winery, source grapes/juice from growers Money is in the wine, 1 # of grapes (50 cents) will produce approx $5 in $12/bottle. Producing wine from grapes yields about 10 fold increase in revenue Return on investment can be about 5-15%

Winery Design / Tasting Room Tasting room wine descriptors help inform consumers looking at wines on display Color code make it easy to choose; dry, semi-dry, sweet so new comers are not intimidated Custom labels for weddings, birthdays… Self serve impersonal yet non intimidating Area to sit with friends inside to enjoy wine Meeting room require staff and extra prep Make T. room look like it is over flowing with wine Outside area critical for warm summers, picnics… Breads, cheeses and snacks keep people around

Winery Design / Winery Layout Trench drain down center best drainage Tanks must have proper slope to drain Concrete floors must have good drainage Have ample hot water available Soften water to prevent scaling Carbon filter water for concentrates/fruit wine Ample room to bottle/store wine in same building or have separate storage Wet chemistry lab is inexpensive, pH, TA, alcohol, ML chromatography, free/total sulfur

Winery Equipment & Cost Wine Tanks 500 gallon variable capacity $4,400 1,000 gallon variable capacity $6,900 2,200 gallon variable capacity $10, gallon fixed top tank $3,955 1,000 gallon fixed top tank $5,895 2,100 gallon fixed top tank $9,995

Winery Equipment & Cost Plate/Frame filter 40x40mm 26sheets $5,395 Filter sheets range $135-$200/100 sheets Sterile filter cartridge housing 30” $580 Sterile filter cartridge 30” $250 4 head manual filler w/pump $2,695 Semi-auto corker w/hopper $3,695 Semi-auto labeler $4,395 Capper heat shrink (polylam) $250 Capper spinner (tin) $1,000-$1,500

Winery Equipment & Cost Flexible impeller pump 1 1/2” $750 Flexible impeller pump 2 1/2 “ $3,795 Crusher 3 ton/ hr with must pump $2,400 Membrane press 290 gallon $23,500 Water press 85 gallon $2,595 Water press 119 gallon $7,500

Best advice I can give Spend one year visiting Midwest wineries Attend meetings, taking courses Learn all you can learn before you take the plunge You have to be an expert in many area’s or hire consultants to make sure you are on track and not get started on the wrong foot.

Thank You Garry A. Penner Top to Bottom Consulting, LLC CR 5220 Rolla, MO