2. Factors that Affect the Price of a Bottle of Wine Flashcards
What are the 2 categories of Grape Growing Costs?
- Costs of establishing a new vineyard.
- Ongoing costs of managing the vineyard and growing grapes.
What are the factors that affect the price of a bottle of wine, from vineyard to POS ?
Factors affecting the price of a bottle of wine :
- Grape growing costs
- Winemaking costs
- Transportation costs
- Importation costs
- Sales costs
- Marketing costs
- Taxes
- Currency fluctuation
What does the price of land reflect?
The price of a land reflects :
- The potential to produce high-quality fruit.
- The name/specificity of the appellation itself (e.g. Bordeaux AOP vs Pauillac AOP)
- The scarcity of the land
What are the initial costs associated with Vineyard Establishment?
How can these costs vary?
2 eg.s?
- Initial costs relate to buying or renting the vineyard land.
- Price of land varies wildly from one site to another, even within the same region.
- e.g.
- California: land prices in Napa Valley can be 10X higher than in the Central Valley.
- Bordeaux: land prices in the most prestigious Médoc AOPs can be 100x higher than generic Bordeaux AOPs.
How can a vineyard site’s reputation affect land prices?
Good reputation => More demand => Higher wine prices => Higher land price
e.g. California; Napa Valley (more $$$) more known for producing grapes from which premium-super premium wines are made vs Central Valley (less $$$) more associated with bulk wine.
Using Champagne as an example, explain how scarcity of land can affect its price ?
Scarcity of land :
- Land in prestigious appellations, e.g. Champagne, rarely comes on the market.
- When it does: sold to the highest bidder.
- Land is finite : GI laws limit the geographic area in which wine can be produced under the Champagne AOP.
What are the costs associated with establishing a new vineyards ?
Vineyard establishment costs :
- Surveying the land
- Site clearance
- Building access roads
- Buying and planting vines
- Buying trellising materials
- Installing a drainage system
- Installing an irrigation system
- Protection against weather hazards
- Protection from animal pests
- Buying/renting machinery and equipment
What vineyard establishment costs are involved with Surveying Land?
Checking suitability for viticulture and appropriate grape varietal choices (satellite imaging and soil samples may be involved).
What vineyard establishment costs are involved with Site Clearance?
Removing vegetation, large rocks, etc…
What vineyard establishment costs are involved with Drainage Capabilities?
Drainage system:
Installing deep drainage channels and pipework.
What vineyard establishment costs are involved with establishing an Irrigation System?
Irrigation System :
- Buying reservoirs, pipes, pumps, sprinklers, dripper systems
- Drilling boreholes, laying pipes, installing pumps for underground water
What vineyard establishment costs are involved with Weather Hazards?
Protection against weather hazards:
Establishing
- windbreaks,
- anti-hail protective mesh,
- frost protection (sprinklers, smudge pots, wind machines).
What vineyard establishment costs are involved with Animal/Pest/Fungus Prevention?
Animail / Pest / Fungus Prevention :
- Animals : High fences, electric fences, netting
- Pests : Pesticides
- Fungus : Fungicides
What vineyard establishment costs are involved with buying Machinery and Equipment?
Machinery and Equipment
- Tractors, spraying equipment, harvesting machines (plus garages/sheds for them).
- Rented by smaller producers who cannot justify the expense, especially if it’s only used once a year.
What are Capital Costs ?
Where can the funding come from ?
Capital costs are those incurred in first establishing a business.
Funding :
- Personal wealth
- Loans (interest and repayments must be factored into LT biz plan)
- Investors (Which may want some form of managing involvement / profits)
- Some countries offer tax incentive or lump sum contributions to encourage the establishment of vineyards.
Identify the types of costs associated with Vineyard Management (5):
Vineyard managment costs :
- Labor
- Machinery and Equipment running costs
- Vineyard Treatments
- Water
- Electricity
Factors that affect Vineyard Management costs associated with Labor?
Labor cost factors :
- Depends on size/topographical features, e.g. much higher in steep Mosel Valley (hand-harvesting) vs flat Central Valley of Cali.
- Viticultural choices : Organic / Biodynamic are more expensive due to additional procedures which must be carried out.
- The local labor costs : If labor costs are low and plentiful (e.g. Chile), less incentive to invest in equipment vs where labor costs are high and scarce (e.g. Coonawarra), machinery is better option.
How do labor needs / costs in the vineyard vary at different times of year ?
During harvest :
- If by hand, producer will hire a team of pickers, can be unskilled as harvesting procedure can be quickly taught.
- If machinery is used, number of staff can be reduced, but staff must be trained to operate equipment.
- If labor is scarce, workers can choose to work for highest bidder.
The rest of the year :
- Smaller staff of higher-paid, skilled workers working under a vineyard manager.
What Vineyard Management costs are associated with Machinery / Equipment?
- Machinery Fuel
- Machinery Maintenance
- Vineyard materials (replacement vines / trellising).
What Vineyard Management costs are associated with Vineyard Treatments (4)?
Conventional :
- Herbicides, pesticides, fungicides.
- Usage can be reduced using integrated pest management.
Organic / Biodynamic :
- Smaller amounts of traditional treatments (sulfur / Bordeaux mixture)
What Vineyard Management costs are associated with Water Usage?
Irrigation : payment to authorities for right to extract water from river / purchased from elsewhere.
In dry years, price of water can rise, making irrigation too expensive and grape growing unprofitable.
What Vineyard Management costs are associated with Electricity Usage?
Electricity is used for
- Irrigation systems,
- bird scanners,
- frost protection equipment.
What are the categories of Winemaking Costs?
Winemaking costs :
- Winery Establishment
- Labor
- Machinery / Equipment running costs
- Winery Materials
- Bought-in Fruit
- Water
- Electricity
- Maturation
- Packaging
What Winemaking Costs are associated with Winery Establishment?
Winery Establishment costs:
- Purchase land to build the winery.
- Buying the equipment : Presses, tanks, pipes, pumps, refrigeration, bottling line
What Winemaking Costs are associated with Labor?
- Usually a small number of skilled, full-time staff.
- Some casual labor may be needed during harvest time for unloading crates / moving equipment.
What Winemaking Costs are associated with Winery Materials?
- Sugar (for enrichment)
- Deacidification agents (e.g. calcium carbonate)
- Acid for acidification (tartaric acid),
- Cultured yeasts
- CO2, inert gases
- Fining / filtering agents.
What Winemaking Costs are associated with Brought-in Fruit?
- Costs of buying the grapes
- Vary significantly according to the quality of the grapes, the grape variety and the vintage
- If a winery has to meet a low price-point, it could blend cheaper varieties (e.g. Airén, Ugni Blanc, Colombard or Semillon) with a more expensive variety (e.g. Chardonnay) to reduce the production costs.
What Winemaking Costs are associated with Water Usage?
What can be done in order to conserve water usage?
- Mainly for cleaning (large volumes of water needed)
- If water is expensive/scarce, winery may invest in water treatment plants in order to re-use as much water as possible.