Wine producing is basic agriculture



By Kori ~ June 16th, 2008.

The wine producing business is not nearly as glamorous as it looks from the outside. It’s basic agriculture.

Traditionally, especially in Europe, winemaking was a family farm type business on a small plot of land passed down through the generations. It was an annual struggle to grow the grapes, process them into wine, and sell them for enough to support a family.

In the United States, it was somewhat similar early on, but today the wine business is inundated by the hobbyist winery owners on the one hand and the mega-winery conglomerates on the other.

Whether here in the U.S., in Europe, or wherever, the wine producing business is a labor intensive, get your hands dirty endeavor. You can do everything technically correct in planting, weeding, pruning, irrigating, scheduling your harvest–you name it–and the weather can still ruin your crop.

In the winery itself, skill in blending cannot always make up for deficiencies in a particular grape vintage. And the opinion of just a couple of key critics can make-or-break your marketing effort for the year. Our hats are off to those families who have made wine production their life’s business and succeeded. Again, it’s not nearly as glamorous as it looks from the outside.


Filed under: General Wine Information

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