I am having trouble-selling wine grapes from the vineyard. It is a small vineyard witch produces high quality wine grapes. Wines produced by wine makers from the vineyard have received numerous metals each year. List of some: San Diego National Wine Competition, Los Angeles County Fair, California State Fair, San Francisco Wine Competition, and Orange County Fair.
Each year we have about 20 ton of un-sold Cabernet Fran wine grapes that are dropped on the ground. Wineries plant their own vineyards that are coming on line our contracts drop and we drop more grapes on the ground.
Anyone have suggestions on how to reach small wine makers and ship small amounts of wine grapes to them.
Each year we have about 20 ton of un-sold Cabernet Fran wine grapes that are dropped on the ground. Wineries plant their own vineyards that are coming on line our contracts drop and we drop more grapes on the ground.
Anyone have suggestions on how to reach small wine makers and ship small amounts of wine grapes to them.
I would be interested in buying grapes from you on a small scale. We have a few brew stores here in Phoenix. If you contacted them, I bet they could sell them for you. If my brew store got a batch of fresh grapes, I would be first in line to buy some.
We are located in Calaveras Co. California in the Sierra Foothills. The vineyard has a southern exposure with warm sierra winds and cool mountain nights, pruned to 4 to 5 tons to the acre for quality. This is a great Cabernet Franc. I like it better then the Merlot and have it as my table wine. The vineyard also grows Merlot, Tempranillo and forth variety that we are not releasing at this time.
We have sold small amount to local wine makers but shipping is the problem for long distantness. Boxing them like table grapes and shipping is to costly, witch small wine makers cannot afford. Although, the same people will by table grapes at the store for $1.00 lb. and may pay the same for wine grapes shipped to them but I have not heard of it. Twenty-five pounds of grapes may make about two gallons.
So I am looking for suggestion on how to do something like that and everyone come out.
Hello Ant, Yes we did. Shipping is were we run in to a snag. Wine grapes have to stay cool or they start fermentation.
Each year we have about 20 ton of un-sold Cabernet Fran wine grapes that are dropped on the ground. Wineries plant their own vineyards that are coming on line our contracts drop and we drop more grapes on the ground.
Anyone have suggestions on how to reach small wine makers and ship small amounts of wine grapes to them.
Oops, I did not realize it was you. I thought you were some idiot being sarcastic.
I now realize you are the one how sent me the "book". I got it today. Thanks you soo much. I have a copier here at home and will make a copy of it tomorrow. I will get it back to you next week.
Rod, Have you thought of contacting Peter Brehm? He pails and resells grapes like yours from the west coast. Lamanuzzi and Pantaleo hot press reds and sell the juice, they are down in Madera. They also box grapes and ship them all over the Northeast and Canada.
It's a shame to have several thousand gallons of good wine go to waste. I would love to have access to them but am in Pittsburgh. Those are the ways you get product out here. Reefer trucks bring pallets of hot pressed red juice that are pailed in 6 gallon buckets, also 40 pound lugs on pallets from the central valley. Brehm pails 5 gallons of frozen, destemmed higher quality grapes like yours and they are also shipped all over.
I would warn you that prices are pretty cheap out here because no one expects grapes of high quality unless they are getting them locally or from Brehm. Central Valley pails go for under $40, lugs are around $20 at the wholesalers, I can't imagine that being worth the effort. Regards, Joe
I can't really help with your specific request (reaching small winemakers). But if your vineyard management in the past focused more on quantity versus quality, perhaps you can try increasing the quality of your Cab Franc grapes by more aggressive vine management. If you thin the clusters and end up with 10 or 12 tons off the same piece of land but they are of far better quality than the 20 tons would have been, you may be able to sell them for a decent price. Better than dropping all 20 tons on the ground... But of course you may already be managing the vines to their fullest potential, in which case I really feel for you. If I wasn't hundreds (thousands?) of miles away, I'd buy some.
I honestly wonder each year how it is that we can buy lugs of fresh grapes here in Calgary for approx. $20 (Canadian$). Just the picking, packing, shipping and wholesaler markup alone seems like it should cost more than that. I can't imagine how the vineyard owner really makes any money. And then there are all the old-timers there buying the grapes when I am, complaining about how expensive they are these days!
If your grapes are of good quality, maybe you can find an amateur winemaker with time and money to start a small winery. If my calculations are correct, 20 tons should yield something like 1100 cases of Cab Franc. If I win the lottery any time soon, I'll be in touch ;-)
Even though all these grapes are being dropped on the ground , the price for us is still high . They were talking about 1200 a ton if picked up . Now that may be a good price , but if you are dropping them on the ground , wouldn't you sell them cheap and at least make something ? Contract sale , top dollar , ok . Left over , dropped on the ground , sell them cheap and make wages. Greg
Maybe give a break on the first batch, so we can try them. If the grapes are good, we might be willing to pay more next time. Better than wasting them.
Were you not able to sell it to a bulk producer? 20 tons time almost anything a ton is nothing to sneeze at. IMHO, you should be focusing on quality above anything else. I have no idea what sort of farming approach you have, but I imagine you have some room to improve in canopy management, yields, irrigation, use of pesticides, etc. Put another way, 5 tons of knock-out grapes trumps 20 tons of good grapes in this market. Where is the vineyard?
For the time being it's a buyer's market. I bought several tons of grapes last year, mostly in 1/2 ton increments and I was shocked that folks running 100 acre vineyards were trying to sell me 1/2 ton lots.
If you can grow great grapes then you can find good winemakers who will at least work on a wine for grape swap. This gives you the sales tool you need.
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