The vineyards need grapes for wine production and the owners of the vines need a buyer for their harvest. It is the basis of a relationship between vineyards and winemakers. The solution of these two needs simply seems to be a question of arreversing a meeting between each winemaker and a representative of the field, during which a transaction is organized in order to obtain mutually beneficial results. These results occur when grapes are sold and delivered to a winery. In most persistent clauses, the contract is stagnated for one full harvest year after termination. This gives both parties time to replace the tonnage or replace the buyer. Producers generally prefer to be paid within 30 days of delivery to the winery, as they have invested money for one year in croping. DiBuduo and Bitter say there should be at least eight essential components in a grape-buyer-Grower contract. These include: the minimum and maximum standards for Brix (sugar) should be indicated in the contract and whether the Brix domain prefers in the intermediate zone. This is usually not specified and can cause problems.

“If a tonnage harvest is rare (for example. B due to weather conditions), the contract should indicate whether the producer is responsible for finding grapes from another source to make up for the difference,” Bitter said. Grape prices are often linked to the National Agricultural Statistics Service`s crush report – a price index – where producers are paid based on the average district price in a price area. Producer representatives estimate that more than 95 percent of California`s grape supply is allocated on presentation agreements written on behalf of the winery, most often by lawyers. As part of contract negotiations between buyers and producers, some vineyards will amend the contract to address producer concerns; no others. Some contracts are written by breeders` associations, including AGG. If the agreement is based on tonnage, DiBuduo says, producers should consider the maximum production potential of the vineyards during the duration of the contract, so as not to pay over-harvest at a secondary (lower) price. Additional winemaking practices are often needed to produce better quality grapes for vineyards that want to produce premium grapes.