Read Online Vintage Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball - Free Book Online Page B

from a vineyard,” he explained. “You make money from wine. Which brings me to the second way to run a winery.” He passed out another set of papers. “You buy the grapes from someone else.”
    Bridget’s eyes widened. “We have a whole vineyard, and we’re buying grapes?”
    Cici’s frown only deepened. “Lori’s business plan didn’t say anything about that.”
    “Your original business plan was good,” he assured them, “as far as it went. But it allowed for slow growth, and, frankly, not much room for error—like the kind of weather disaster we had last year. You wanted me to help you recreate the Blackwell Farms vineyards. Well, in essence, this is what they did. The reason Judge Blackwell brought my father over from France was to make wine, not to grow grapes, so the first thing he did was search out the best varietals in Virginia to mix with the European stock the judge was growing.”
    “No kidding,” said Lindsay, surprised. “That little sneak.”
    “It’s done all the time,” Dominic assured her. “In fact, I don’t know of a winery in the country that hasn’t, at one time or another, supplemented their vintage with grapes from another vineyard.”
    “Sounds expensive to me.” Bridget looked worried.
    “And we still wouldn’t be able to start selling for …?” Cici looked at Dominic inquiringly.
    “A year, at least, from harvest time,” Dominic admitted. “Two for some varieties.”
    The three women looked from one to the other uneasily. “I think I liked Lori’s plan better,” Cici said. “We still didn’t make money for three years, but the up-front investment was a lot smaller.”
    “And we didn’t have to worry about cleaning this place up for three years,” added Bridget, wrinkling her nose.
    “There is a third way,” Dominic said, and passed out another paper. “Custom crush. That’s when you buy the actual crush—the wine, if you will— already crushed, pressed and fermented, to be shipped here for storage and bottling under your label.”
    “But that’s cheating!” Bridget exclaimed.
    “It wouldn’t even be our wine,” Lindsay objected, and Cici was shaking her head in agreement.
    “It will be as much your wine as you want it to be,” Dominic said. “You can create custom blends, decide how to age it and for how long, choose the varietals. You’ll bottle, brand, and label it. It will be your wine. And you can start selling this year.”
    Now they were interested.
    “How soon this year?” Cici asked.
    “Depending on what you order and what’s available … late summer.”
    A flash of excitement went around the group.
    “Now we’re talking.” Cici grinned.
    “We could have our tasting room ready for tourist season,” Bridget said.
    And then Lindsay said, “We could open our first bottle at Lori’s wedding!”
    A moment of reverential silence fell, held in expectation that didn’t quite dare to become hope. Cici’s eyes lit up, and she beamed.
    Dominic said, “My recommendation, if you’re really serious about this, is to use a combination of all three methods. Use custom crush to finance the operation until your first harvest and import grapes to supplement your yield. You can be in business in six months.”
    As one, the three women held up their hands and slapped palms. “We can do this,” said Lindsay. “We really can!”
    “Who knew?” agreed Bridget, grinning broadly.
    And Cici declared, “Dominic, you are a genius.”
    Dominic smiled, but he looked torn. He brought out the final set of papers and passed them around. “Here’s the bottom line,” he said.
    The minutes passed as the women studied the spreadsheet, and the ebullience in the room sank like a hot air balloon in cold weather.
    “Tractors … harvest crew …” murmured Cici.
    “Label design, operations manager,” added Bridget, her eyes glued to the paper.
    “Licenses, permits, bottles,” said Lindsay. She looked up. “We didn’t even think about