Farm wineries produce and sell wine on-site. Urban wineries offer tours, tastings, retail sales, restaurants, entertainment venues, and winemaking classes.
Start-Up and Operating Costs
Opening a winery costs a minimum of $600,000. A vineyard yields about 700 bottles per ton of grapes, with costs ranging from $1.40 to $14 per bottle.
Sales and Profitability
Wine distribution and sales can be profitable. Distributors and wholesalers profit around 30%. Vineyards profit about 50% gross margin. Relabeled bulk wines called "shiners" enable wholesaling without labels. Wine merchants earn $37,460 to $115,990 yearly.
Vineyards make money selling grapes and wine to wineries or retailers, offering tours and tastings. Vineyards sell grapes by the pound and wine by the bottle or glass. The five most successful vineyard companies are worth billions in market valuation.
Tasting fees range from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. Wineries also profit from bottle sales, tours, food, and merchandise. The 2019 US wine industry revenue was $8.5 billion. The global wine market is expected to reach $417 billion by 2020. Surveys revealed that 28% of grape producers were profitable in 2019, up from 15% in 2015.
Wine’s rising popularity has led to increased financial gain. Costs to invest in wine start at $15,000 to $25,000. World wine consumption is estimated at 24 billion liters yearly, worth $28 billion. Most independent winemakers struggle to profit, while California head winemakers earn $80-100k yearly. The wine industry is increasingly competitive.