From whimsical and refreshing whites to bold and flavorful reds, and everything in between, The Vineyard at Hershey handcrafts every bottle of wine for the enjoyment of new and the most experienced of palates. In total, we produce more than 60,000 bottles of wine without ever sacrificing our winemaker’s philosophy that the best wines are created with a passionate attention to detail and by growing grapes and producing wine in limited quantities.All of our artisan wines are designed to be enjoyed young and vibrant, or, for our dry wines, enjoyed cellared and graceful with age. We are confident that you will find wines to suit your own tastes, as well as those suitable for gift-giving. To help plan your visit to the Vineyard, our winemaker has provided his tasting notes for each wine. We cannot wait to see what you taste while enjoying our wines. We trust you will taste the difference. All of our wines can be personalized for corporate events or to enhance your gift of wine for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, holiday and any other happy event that comes to mind.

Whether you provide your own custom label, or we design it for you, when you order a private label for your favorite The Vineyard at Hershey wine, you will have a truly memorable gift! or call the Tasting Room at (717) 944-1569.Nearly everyone who’s enjoyed a good glass of Chardonnay (or better yet, visited the vineyard that produced it) has fantasized about going into the wine business. After all, not only is wine one of life’s great pleasures, it’s also an increasingly marketable commodity: Sales of wine in the United States increased by 2% in 2012, hitting a new all-time high of $34.6 billion, according to wine industry consultant Jon Frederikson. But as promising as that sounds, the glass may only be half full, so to speak. That’s because making wine is an expensive, time-consuming endeavor and returns on investment can take years, if not decades, to realize. “It’s a 10- to 20-year haul,” says famed actor and former “Saturday Night Live” star Dan Aykroyd, who’s invested in wineries based near his home in Canada.

Moreover, the wine business has gotten super-competitive of late, especially for small-scale entrepreneurs trying to go up against the giants that have come to dominate the industry. Consider that Constellation Brands, an upstate New York company that started nearly 70 years ago selling bulk wine to bottlers, now encompasses such labels as Robert Mondavi, Kim Crawford, Clos du Bois and Arbor Mist — all prominent wine brands unto themselves. In other words, those who venture into the wine business find themselves with plenty to, um, whine about, often in spite of their love of the grape and the sophisticated lifestyle they associate with it. “The glamour that people perceive is just that — perception,” says Earl Sullivan, founder of Telaya Wine in Idaho. Of course, the wine business isn’t strictly about glamour — or money, for that matter. “You have to characterize it as an investment of passion,” says Joel Redmond, a senior financial planner at Key Private Bank who’s worked with wine entrepreneurs.

Which means it can offer rewards of another sort, from connecting with the land to enjoying the liquid fruits of one’s labor. “I love the samples sent home,” says Aykroyd. The basic math You can’t make wine without grapes. And you can’t grow grapes without land. For most wine entrepreneurs, the big expense is the sheer acreage involved in the endeavor. And the more prestigious the place (or terroir, to use the wine-centric term), the higher the expense. buy cheap wine racks onlineIn California’s celebrated Napa Valley, that can translate into a cost of up to $500,000 an acre (and it’s worth noting that a “small” vineyard can still run about five acres). best white wine temperatureNaturally, there are plenty of places beyond Napa, but prices can still be high — in California alone, figure up to $150,000 an acre for land in Sonoma and up to $80,000 an acre for land along the Central Coast, says Jeff Gutsch, a California accountant with the firm Moss Adams who specializes in the wine industry. top 20 countries for wine

Given that wine is now made in all 50 states, there are lots of options outside California. “I look at Washington and Oregon as sleeper markets,” says Gutsch. Other industry insiders tout such states as Texas, Michigan, New York and Virginia as winemaking locales with plenty of potential (and land prices that can be as little as $10,000 per acre). Just keep in mind that location counts — both in terms of the bottom line (it’s rare to see $100-plus bottles coming out of anywhere in the U.S. besides California) and, yes, the glamor factor. glass of wine symbol“Having a winery in Michigan doesn’t have the sex and sizzle of having a winery in Napa and Sonoma,” says David L. Corsun, a professor at the University of Denver who specializes in the hospitality and beverage management industries. best book for understanding wine

Not that land is the only cost. A wine entrepreneur has plenty of other capital and ongoing expenses. Start with the winemaking supplies and equipment, from the vines that must be planted to the barrels and tanks that are used to store the wine. And don’t forget staffing costs as well, from field hands to the actual winemakers (the more senior ones can command annual salaries of $100,000-plus). It can all equate to a bill of more than $30,000 per acre per year. best wine ordering sitesInclude the land and the total investment in the first few years can easily reach seven (or even eight) figures, a prospect that can scare away all but the most devoted oenophile. And keep in mind, it will take a good three years for the vines to start producing quality grapes, and it can be up to another three years before the wines have aged properly and are ready for the marketplace. Leave it to California winemaker David Duncan (Silver Oak Cellers, Twomey Cellars) to put the situation into perspective: “There’s a saying, ‘If you want to make a million in the wine business, start with 10 million,’” he says.

Still, there’s a way to make the math work — namely, charge a price for each bottle that builds in all those costs (don’t forget the marketing budget, either) and allows for a little profit. The only problem is that it has to be a wine that people will drink — and if it’s an expensive bottle, it has to be one they’ll pay good money to buy. “Today’s consumer is so well educated that you can’t try and fool them for long. If you don’t deliver value, they will go away,” says Charles Banks, a well-known name in California wine who now owns Terroir Capital and Mayacamas Vineyards, among other wineries. In for a little There’s nothing that says you have to own a vineyard to own a winery. A number of wine entrepreneurs are essentially building wine “brands” instead of actual wineries — buying grapes or juice and, in some cases, even outsourcing the bottling. “It’s a pure marketing play,” says Clayton B. Gantz, a California attorney with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips who specializes in the wine industry and also has his own vineyard.