There are three ways of entering the wine industry. One is to set up a vineyard to produce your own wine grapes, the second is to source your grapes from external agencies and carry out the processing and bottling in-house and the third is to buy the wine from a winery, bottle it in your in-house bottling facility and sell it under your own label.

Initially you can start off with nothing except buying the wine, bottling it and selling it. At the end of the day, it is your ability to sell that would count. If you have a processing and bottling facility in place in your winery, you can get the grapes from a vineyard as a part of a contractual agreement. Quite a few wineries, however, are the kinds that produce their own harvest of wine grapes and source the rest of their requirement from other wineries or vineyards.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
1. Site location: fertile soil, dry climate, controlled rainfall.
2. Land: Average 20 acres.
3. Manufacturing license (subject to state rules)
4. Trademark registration in case of a company setup.

Initial Investment= Cost of land + Input cost (seed, manure, fertilizers, labor, etc.) + Cost of machinery + License fee.
Annual Investment (Working Capital) = Maintenance Cost + Production cost + Stock and Sale License fees.

A vineyard should ideally be located where the soil is fertile, the climate has a good variation between night and day temperatures, there is access to water, the weather is dry and the rainfall is controlled. The combination of soil, climatic conditions and other factors in a vineyard affect a wine’s terroir. Terroir is a French word that signifies the characteristics of the vine and grapes that grow in a particular vineyard subject to the topography, climatic conditions and soil of the vineyard. A vineyard is said to yield vintage wine if the grapes are all or primarily grown in one specific year.

Currently, all the vineyards of the country are located in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The major reason behind this, apart from the favorable climate and land, is the fact that these regions had already been producing table grapes. Ideally, around 20 acres should set you off, although people have even started with lesser land. Once site selection is done, grape selection becomes pertinent, for there are certain kinds of soil that support certain kinds of wine grapes the most.

The equipment required can be imported for around Rs 30 lakh to a crore. The most dominant varieties of wine grapes available in India are Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Thompson, Chenin Blanc, Grenache, Shiraz, Merlot and Zinfandel. Some of the basic differentiating factors between the wines obtained from these varieties are acidity, tannins, minerals, fruitiness and alcohol content. It takes a couple of years for the grape vines to grow and take fruit. The first harvest is of no use and it takes a couple of years more to get harvests of good quality. Almost 30% of the crop is pruned away during the growing years to enhance the quality of the entire crop.