Does anyone know of a small vineyard or winery that is owned by a co-op or partnership?
My neighbor is a grape grower who is in his eighties and getting too old to care for the vines. A small group of us gets together around this time every year to make wine with one another and him; unfortunately this could be our last year. I’m looking for a creative solution to saving the vineyard from what will otherwise become a housing tract.
The property is just 10 acres with 5 acres planted with mostly Zinfandel grapes. Though the property is small, the history is not. Without going into a lot of detail, here is a short version: The current owner purchased this land and planted the vines - from his father - in 1979 after a much larger parcel was split up. My neighbor’s father - who sold him the land - was also a grape grower and farmer.
Anyway, the story is much, much bigger than can be explained here and probably more than anyone cares to read about so I will end it there, but if anyone has an idea for saving a piece of land like this… please throw the idea out here.
My idea is to create some form of partnership or co-op with the other winemakers and/or neighbors, perhaps building a small winery on premise to pay for the investment over time.
Thanks
My neighbor is a grape grower who is in his eighties and getting too old to care for the vines. A small group of us gets together around this time every year to make wine with one another and him; unfortunately this could be our last year. I’m looking for a creative solution to saving the vineyard from what will otherwise become a housing tract.
The property is just 10 acres with 5 acres planted with mostly Zinfandel grapes. Though the property is small, the history is not. Without going into a lot of detail, here is a short version: The current owner purchased this land and planted the vines - from his father - in 1979 after a much larger parcel was split up. My neighbor’s father - who sold him the land - was also a grape grower and farmer.
Anyway, the story is much, much bigger than can be explained here and probably more than anyone cares to read about so I will end it there, but if anyone has an idea for saving a piece of land like this… please throw the idea out here.
My idea is to create some form of partnership or co-op with the other winemakers and/or neighbors, perhaps building a small winery on premise to pay for the investment over time.
Thanks
Last edited:
