Recent content by danno

I'm in the process of setting up a tasting room on a very busy (20,000 to 30,000 cars per day) highway. A lot of vacationers use this highway and I'm going to lease billboards to advertise. I'm wondering about how far away from the tasting room to place them. 1 mile? 5 miles? 10 miles? Does...

Thanks - I recalibrated my PH meter and it was measuring low. New measurement is around 3.1. The taste is pretty good at this point for both varieties.

Just checked the PH for my Chardonnay & Sauvignon Blanc that has been aging in glass carboys for about 5 months. It's quite low- around 2.75 for both. Is there any good way of getting the PH up? How about malolactic fermentation at this point?

Pruned & ready for bud break!

Congrats on your success - very inspiring!

Very True. I just rinse out the residue from my carboys before storing and do the sanitizing only when I'm ready to put them back into use.

Thanks for the info- great stuff. I do live in an AVA so I can label my wine from homegrown grapes Estate Bottled. Like most winemakers I too prefer the dry. I'm not surprised that 2/3 of your sales are sweet or semisweet - I hear that from just about every winery owner around here that I've...

Very nice website- looks like you're on your way. In my $4.50/bottle cost I did include the costs for bottles, labels, corks, etc. but not for excise taxes. May I ask what your tax per gallon is?

Thanks for the input. I would consider the costs associated with the activities you mention to be mostly "sunk" costs, other than the insurance premium which would definitely be a current cost. As to the $12-$20 per bottle selling prices, they certainly aren't out of line with boutique winery...

Wow - I, as an amateur wanting to go commercial but need my county to become "wet" to get a winery permit, am very interested in what it takes to be profitable. Since you operate out of your home I would think that you have practically no overhead and your expenses would be only your production...

In your profit calculation are you including the startup costs or is the $100 the difference between your sales revenue and your current costs?

I'm a bit jealous, being an amateur who would like to go pro but live in a dry county. It might go wet so there's still hope. I'm curious about what your expectations are from a profitability standpoint. Personally, I wouldn't go commercial if I didn't think I could do it profitably. Anyway-...

I tend to take what friends & family say (they are always complimentary) about my wine with a grain of salt. In an effort to get an unbiased evaluation I entered some of mine in a wine competition. Based on the white ribbons I received, let's just say I didn't exactly knock the judges socks...