Napa cult Cabernet

• Farming the vines for a year$6–$18
• The land the vines grow on$4–$16
• Bottle, cork, label and box$5–$14
• Running the winery$4–$10
• Money tied up while it ages$2–$10
• Making the wine$3–$6
• Ageing it in the cellar$1–$3
• Oak barrels$1–$2

The cost of one bottle, at the winery door. Our models are built in US dollars and shown in your chosen currency. The shop price comes later, after the merchant, the importer, the shop and the taxman have each added their share.

A winery that buys its grapes instead of owning the land would spend $27–$62 a bottle.

• There is no more land. A famous vineyard cannot get any bigger, however many people want the wine.
• The name. Decades of reputation, which buyers are willing to pay for.
• Time. With an older bottle you are paying someone for the years they stored it.
• Everyone in between. The merchant, the importer and the shop each add a margin.
• More buyers than bottles. The same number of bottles every year, and the whole world wanting them.

The numbers we used

The winery we pictured: An Oakville/Rutherford estate growing its own fruit on prime benchland, cropping under 3 tons/acre, 100% new French oak for 20–24 months, hand-sorted, mailing-list sales.

What	Low	High	Unit	Source
Bottling	0.40	0.90	USD/bottle	Bottling line quotes
Case and packaging	1.00	3.50	USD/bottle	Supplier price lists
Aging before release	1.60	2.00	years	Estate technical notes
Uses per barrel before sale	3.00	5.00	uses	Corkonomics assumption
Yield	30	45	hl/ha	Napa Crop Report
New French oak barrel	1,100	1,500	USD/barrel	Cooperage price lists 2025
Evaporation, topping and losses	0.03	0.06	share	Corkonomics assumption
Share of new oak	0.90	1.00	share	Producer technical notes
Financing over the aging period	0.04	0.07	rate	Corkonomics assumption
Cost of capital applied to land	0.03	0.05	rate	Corkonomics assumption
Bottle, closure, capsule, label	4.00	10	USD/bottle	Supplier price lists
Vineyard land value (imputed at a cost of capital, not purchased)	741,000	1,236,000	USD/ha	Broker reporting
Grape price (purchased-fruit route)	9.60	12	USD/kg	California Grape Crush Report 2024 / N…
Vineyard farming cost	30,000	62,000	USD/ha/year	Premium-estate farming $12–25k/acre × …
Hand harvest and sorting	3,700	7,400	USD/ha	Premium-estate farming $12–25k/acre × …
Winery overhead (staff, insurance, compliance, depreciation)	4.00	10	USD/bottle	Corkonomics assumption
Cellar space, topping, monitoring	0.80	1.60	USD/bottle/year	Corkonomics assumption
Winemaking and cellar labour	3.00	6.00	USD/bottle	Corkonomics assumption