From Vine to Bottle

You ever wonder how many grapes it takes to make one bottle of wine?

The short answer to that question is "it depends." It depends on several factors, beginning with the vine. Vineyards vary in the spacing of the rows and also between the individual vines. Some vines are close together (high density) and others are more spaced apart. Another factor is the age and size of the grape. Some varietals are more productive or have larger clusters of fruit and some yield more juice per pound of fruit.

Wine makers differ in the amount of juice they are willing or able to squeeze from the drink grapes. Typically, one cluster equals around 75 grapes and there are roughly 25 clusters on one vine (after pruning), so, one vine equals 1,875 grapes. Now, get ready for some "wine math!"

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If 2,420 vines equals one acre (6x3 spacing), then one acre equals 4,537,500 grapes. If one acre yields two tons, then one ton equals 2,268,750 grapes, if one ton fills 25 barrels, then one barrel equals 907,500 grapes.

Are you still with me? If one barrel fills 24 cases, then one case equals 37,813 grapes. If one case holds 12 bottles then one bottle equals 3,151 grapes. If one bottle pours 5 glasses, then one glass of high-quality dry table wine contains 630 grapes. If you think of this in terms of sitting in front of the television snacking on grapes from a bunch, that's a lot of grapes! But, keep in mind that most fine-wine grapes are much smaller than table grapes, and...drinking the grapes is way more fun.

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