Vineyard Development

We offer vineyard development services. After planting hundreds of vineyards our team can help you with every aspect of vineyard development. Below are some of the factors involved in planning a profitable, successful vineyard. Please contact us today for a consultation regarding your vineyard project.

Site Topography
• Determine layout of blocks based on soil types, slope and topography
• Determine plantable acreage, size of blocks, clone and rootstock selections
• Determine type and amount of trellis materials needed
• Placement of infrastructure such as roads, reservoirs, wells, buildings, loading zones etc.

Plant Materials
• Select type of plant materials (varieties, clones and rootstocks)
• Match clones/rootstocks to specific blocks
• Determine the number of vines needed
• Source plant materials from nurseries

Soil Characteristics
• Find the county soil survey for the site
• Have soil mapping done by soil scientist
• Have a soil test done for basic nutrient analysis
• Develop plan for soil preparation and amendments (disking, ripping, amendment additions etc.)
• Check for pests such as nematodes

Weather and Climate Information
• Locate and study the local weather station data
• Compare how this data differs from the site
• Install weather stations or other weather collecting devices to monitor the site
• Determine the weather conditions of the area
• Compare the macro-climate to other grape growing regions worldwide (Growing Degree Days GDD)
• Talk to nearby growers to determine more specific weather related factors

Irrigation assessment
• Availability of irrigation water (creeks, rivers, ponds, wells, etc.) and
• Irrigation needs for a vineyard based on proposed acreage and growing region
• Investigate water rights/limitations

Other factors
• Assess nearby vineyards and or location relative to markets
• Assess potential varieties that could perform well at the site
• Investigate zoning restrictions that may pertain to the site
• Potential for herbicide drift or specific pest or diseases problems
• Other advantages and disadvantages of the site

Winery Development & Management Services
Vineyard Agent can help your winery from concept development to complete operation. These services can be tailored to meet the needs for: Hands-off investors, start-ups, struggling operations, expanding operations and Custom Crush Facilities.

Services Offered:

• Wine types, styles and volumes to be produced
• Production plan and schedule
• Reduce packaging and direct material costs
• Implement quality control systems
• Equipment specification list and cost estimate
• Site design and floor footprint for efficient production
• Pro Forma Cash Flow and Balance Sheets
• Streamline shipping/receiving and order processing, cost accounting, inventory systems and accountability
• Management restructuring and role definition. Streamlining workforce
• Review procedures, implement best practices or improve processes
• Facilitating departmental interactions, such as that between Sales and Operations
• Implement and manage custom crush and bottling operation – turn your excess capacity into cash

Winemaking Consulting Services
We offer complete winemaking consulting services. These services can be utilized as a limited and short-term relationship or complete fulltime consulting. These services can be customized to meet all production levels: boutique wineries, mid-sized wineries and million-case facilities.

Winemaking Consulting Services:

• Harvest & grape evaluation
• Crush and fermentation
• Blending
• Wine aging / barrel evaluation
• Preparing wines for bottling