BULK WINE PRODUCTION BOUTIQUE WINE PRODUCTION
Many bulk producers buy grapes or finished wine from growers and just bottle the final product. [ land ]
Vineyard land is often sold at a steep premium. Vineyards in Napa Valley can cost upwards of $ 300,000 per acre.
Vines are usually planted on flat, very fertile land where it is easy to grow high-quantity, low-quality grapes. Average production of grapes is 10 – 15 tonnes per acre.
[ vineyards ]
Vines are usually grown on hillsides where soils and viticulture are more difficult, but result in smaller crops of a higher quality of fruit. Production can be as low as a half kilo of grapes per acre.
Irrigation allows large quantities of grapes to grow at little cost. [ water ]
Young vines produce lower quality fruit than older vines. [ vine age ]
Minimal pruning results in a high volume of grapes per vine. Grapes produced in high yield tend to have more diluted juices. [ viticulture ]
Producers use pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides liberally to assure a high volume of grape production. [ chemicals ]
Machine harvesting is very quick, but can damage the fruit, and it doesn’ t discern between ripe and unripe: all grapes are harvested.
[ harvesting ]
There is no sorting of harvested fruit— all fruit, leaves, and twigs are used. [ sorting ]
Aggressive clarification of musts, enrichment with sugars and nutrients, and inoculation with strong yeast strains lead to rapid fermentation.
[ fermentation ]
Pressing every last drop of juice out of the grapes results in lots of juice and some bitter and harsh tastes. [ press ]
Wine is usually aged in stainless steel, which has a one-time cost, and can last for decades. [ aging ]
Wine is bottled as soon as possible. |
[ bottling ] |
Cheap or synthetic corks are used. |
[ closure ] |
Wines are shipped in cardboard boxes of 12. [ packaging ]
High-quality producers that dry-farm( without irrigation) grow smaller amounts of high-quality berries.
Old vines( min. 20 years) produce smaller quantities of fruit, but it is of higher quality.
Vines are pruned to small bunches of grapes that are thinned throughout the season. Fewer grapes per vine means more flavour per grape.
Producers use few chemicals or none at all, leading to the possibility of grape loss through mould, mildew, or insect damage.
Hand picking the fruit is very slow and labour intensive, but allows for only the ripe, undamaged fruit to be picked.
All fruit is hand sorted. All damaged or unripe fruit, twigs, and insects are discarded and only the best fruit is used.
Longer natural fermentations by indigenous yeasts are often done on a small scale and may involve oak fermenters or even oak barrels.
A very gentle press is used, and often only the“ free run” juice, caused by the weight of the grapes pressing down on the ones below, is used.
Wine can be aged in oak barrels, which run $ 1,800 apiece and must be replaced every 3 years.
Wine can be aged for 2 – 5 years before it is bottled.
Top quality cork is used, which is 3 – 5 times more expensive than cheap cork.
Wines are shipped in wooden cases of six instead of 12.
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