Pricing and Costs of Wine-making Equipment

Commercial wine equipment can be costly so start small and dream big
By Sherril Steele-Carlin, Freelance Writer If you're thinking of starting your own winery, whether at home or in your own vineyard, you're going to need a lot of wine making supplies, from tanks and fermenters to pumps, presses, bottles and corks. Develop a budget for your wine making business, and get a good idea of what commercial wine making supplies cost before you jump into the wine business.

Some commercial winery equipment makes sense, like barrels and de-stemmers, while some might not immediately come to mind, like bottlers, hose-connectors, and tubs and trucks for the fields. When making a budget for your winery equipment, think about:

1. Commercial winery equipment like presses and bottling machinery.

2. Used wine making equipment or small batch ordering.

3. Setting a budget with cost estimates using pricing and costs of wine-making equipment.

Look for wholesale wine making equipment when you start your winery

Dealing with a commercial wine making supply house makes sense if you're looking for wholesale wine making equipment. They usually carry more brands, a larger array of equipment, and can give you up to date price quotes on your complete order. Prices run the gamut from a few hundred dollars for small sorters and de-stemmers to double and triple digits for large-scale winery equipment like vats, bottlers and filters.
Try:  The Compleat Winemaker offers every kind of supply from bottles to labelers, and you can download a catalog online. The Vintner's Vault offers a complete online catalog with everything from tasting room supplies to wine making commercial equipment.

Think about leasing, buying small or used wine making equipment

If you're short on capital for your winery, you still have options. You can order small batches of supplies at a time, buy used wine making equipment, or even lease commercial wine making equipment, if you choose. These options help even a small winery get started on the road to wine riches. Up front leasing costs can run from $100 to $500 dollars, and some companies will only handle leases of $50,000 or more, while others will go anywhere from $2,000 on up.
Try:  Practical Winery and Vineyard offers an article on winery equipment leasing and its benefits to your budget. LeaseMark specializes in leasing all types of wine equipment. Hoga Company offers retail pricing on small amounts of oak barrels. They also offer used barrels. The Wine Business Classifieds offer used equipment, and you can post equipment you want, too.

Read more about the costs of commercial winemaking equipment and opening a winery

To set a real budget for your commercial wine making equipment, read cost analysis and estimates from experts. They include ideas about how much you'll spend on equipment, grapes and more, and will help you set a viable budget for your winery, including some ideas of when you'll begin to reap the fruits of your labors in profits.
Try:  Good Fruit Grower magazine offers a detailed analysis of the costs to open wineries of various sizes. The Ag Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State University offers workbooks to help guide you through setting a budget for a winery and vineyard. Washington State University's Agribusiness Management department offers a bulletin with detailed costs of opening a small winery.

• Before you decide to open your own winery, visit a few operating wineries to see what commercial wine producing equipment they have, and what they recommend for a start-up winery. Ask them how they set their budgets, and if they managed to stick to them, too, because setting a budget is only part of the complete winery picture. Pricing and costs of wine-making equipment vary widely, so sticking to a budget relies on good shopping techniques and knowledge of the equipment you need ahead of time.