Dreaming about planting your own vineyard or starting a winery? Read this first

I’m thinking of planting a vineyard. Do you have any tips?

—J.D., NOWRA, NSW

Tip number one: don’t do it! The old joke rings true:

Question: how do you make a small fortune in wine? Answer: start with a large one.

The cost of establishing a vineyard has never been higher and, the fact is, it’s climbing all the time. And then you have to sell the wine. Too many beginners jest, “If we can’t sell it, we can always drink it.” No.

Brian Freeman, a leading NSW vigneron in the Hilltops region, says the going rate is about $50,000 a hectare to establish a vineyard, about double what it was a few years ago.

Ashley Ratcliff, a top grower and winemaker in the Riverland, who owns Ricca Terra vineyards in Barmera, South Australia, sent me a breakdown of the costs of establishing about four hectares of new vineyard, with drip irrigation. All in, $152,000 – or $38,000 a hectare.

That’s using own-rooted vines; grafted rootlings protect vines against lethal root-eating pests, but they cost about two-and-a-half times more than ungrafted ones. The cost of everything else – posts, wire, fertiliser, irrigation equipment, fuel, labour, tractors and other machinery, not to mention the price of the land – has risen sharply since the pandemic.

If you’re new to the industry, it might pay to hire a consultant. That will be costly, too, but you’ll hopefully avoid making expensive mistakes.

If you plan to sell the grapes and not make wine, make sure you have a watertight contract before you dig the first clod. That in itself is a minefield. Countless grape-growers have found themselves staring at a vintage without a buyer, which is how many end up deciding to become winemakers. It’s a bit like starting a family by mistake: “Oh gee, we’re pregnant. We might as well have a brood.”

Another factor to think about is the declining market for wine. Everyone I speak to in the industry and the trade say they’ve never known the market so difficult. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

Got a drinks question for Huon Hooke? thefullbottle@goodweekend.com.au