Making Good Chardonnay - Laying The Foundations For A Successful Vineyard

[douglaslbg]

I greatly enjoyed the game thus far and thus would like to offer some thoughts and tips to fellow budding vintners on how to get up and running.

The game always starts off with a loam-based patch so we have a choice of growing Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. I like starting off with Chardonnay as a matter of personal preference but also because I found it to be an easy starter grape to work with in-game.

In order to get a 5-Star Chardonnay, I found, through trial and error, that the final product's acidity, sweetness, tannins and body should all have a score of 5 or 6 (6 preferably for higher-tier reviwers later)

Now let me walk you through how to achieve this.

Growing The Grapes. Growing the grapes is perhaps the most important step. Wine is, after all, about the quality of the grapes. The growing season starts in Feb. Harvest begins in September. What you want to have at harvest time are grapes whose ripeness is between 5 - 7. This not only makes achieving the wine scores above much easier and quicker but also gives you the Exceptional Grapes Perk which gives the wine an extra star if for whatever reason you get less than 3.5 stars from the reviewers. The trick is to ensure that you have a sufficient amount of grapes at the end to make a decent quantity of wine but also make sure that the grapes are of the desired ripeness level. I found that its best to keep the vines at optimal/ heavy foliage until July before tripping down to no foliage and let the grapes ripen quickly in the period between July and September. Most years, this works. But the weather pattern changes - too much sun, too much rain etc so adapt accordingly.

Processing. Now that you have the grapes, crush, ferment, press and put that liquid gold into barrels. At this stage, your chardonnay should have acidity 6-7, sweetness 5-6, tannins 6-8, body 5-8. Let the wine sit in the cellar for a month and you should have a well-balanced, award-winning Chardonnay. I found that letting the wine sit in the cellar for at least one month before bottling also gives you the Taste Like Butter Perk which adds another 10% to the wine price.

Sale. The only thing left to do at this stage is to organise a review, lap up the praises and send the wine off to be sold. If you have done everything right, you should get a wine that is between 4 - 5 stars even with the more prestigeous reviewers. This gives you a cash cow which brings in steady cash year on year.

What's next? Keep practicing the steps above for at least two in-game years. That should give you a good amount of cash to expand. At this stage, I would use the cash to buy another loam plot to grow.... you guess it Chardonnay. After that, the sky's the limit. Buy new patches, experiment with new varietals! The same scores above will not make produce a 5-star merlot or a sauvignon blanc but therein lies the fun! With your two Chardonnay patches, you can experiment to your heart's content without fear of going bankrupt!

[moosc]

As you can also do with Cab Sav I've found. Either is a Good starter. It becomes more difficult if you grow both at the same time.

[genintco]

I see the both of you are beginning to learn the nuances of Cab Sauv and Chardonnay. Very impressive! I look forward to seeing your progress on the other 3.

MARK

[Nightbringer]

In a few days I'll be posting a relatively in depth table of all the 5-star combos possible for wines. A good 4-5 star one for Chardonnay is 6-6-7-6.

[genintco]

Jeez, you guys are starting to figure out the combinations already!

We're going to have to make future grape variety additions a bit more challenging...

[froggr]

Mark, if it makes you feel any better, I havent gotten any better than 4* with the lowest judges with Sav blanc after 4 hours of play. It's got me puzzled.

Is it possible to grow more than 3 varietals in the vineyard?

[genintco]

froggr,

I have every confidence you'll get way better.

Unfortunately, we've set the limit to 3 varietals for now. We had to place this limit as it made the entire design of game much more streamlined and less chaotic. Once you've mastered each and every varietal, I recommend moving on to the more lucrative grapes (Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir) to maximize profitability.

MARK

[Son Of Perdition]

Originally posted by Nightbringer:

In a few days I'll be posting a relatively in depth table of all the 5-star combos possible for wines. A good 4-5 star one for Chardonnay is 6-6-7-6.

Looking forward to your findings, I'm struggling to figure them out myself.

[moosc]

Spoiler Alert.
A good Cab Sauv the secret is to keep the figure equal. uch as 4-4-4-4 or 5-5-5-5 or combinations 1 above or 1 below and start with the 1 star judges. Experimenting is the clue.

[Luigi]

I love growing Syrah, and I am close to getting its perfect combo. Pinot Noir on the other hand is a real challenge! Its gonna be a tough one to figure out.

[Nightbringer]

Originally posted by Son Of Perdition:

Originally posted by Nightbringer:

In a few days I'll be posting a relatively in depth table of all the 5-star combos possible for wines. A good 4-5 star one for Chardonnay is 6-6-7-6.

Looking forward to your findings, I'm struggling to figure them out myself.

Yeah, and when it gets up to 4+ star judges do 7-6-7-7. Always Harvest at 5-6 ripeness, crush the grapes, do less than month fermintation, then do a 20% press. Immediately bottle it after you barrel it (DO NOT let the wine age at all), use the cork and the yellow Chardonnay bottle. You should get a 5-star wine everytime. I'm about to test this with the 5-star judges.

[Nightbringer]

Originally posted by Nightbringer:

Originally posted by Son Of Perdition:

Looking forward to your findings, I'm struggling to figure them out myself.

Yeah, and when it gets up to 4+ star judges do 7-6-7-7. Always Harvest at 5-6 ripeness, crush the grapes, do less than month fermintation, then do a 20% press. Immediately bottle it after you barrel it (DO NOT let the wine age at all), use the cork and the yellow Chardonnay bottle. You should get a 5-star wine everytime. I'm about to test this with the 5-star judges.

Okay, so I have tried almost every single combination with the 5-star judges to attempt to get a 5-star Chardonnay. The only one I haven't tried (because it is nearly impossible with the starter chateau) is 6-6-6-6. However, to no prevail I have only gotten 3-4-stars with every combo involving 6's and 7's. If somone has a combo for a 5-star Chardonnay with the 5-star judges please tell me!

[Navinod]

I've gotten 6-6-6-6 Chardonnay with three five star reviewers on the starter chateau. They gave me a 4.5. The judges said that I was missing something. It was very enigmatic. I'm guessing it has something to do with hitting that score with the barrel aging. The one I did that with had buttery, so maybe if I didnt have it with that or with a different flavoring. More testing is needed.

[Nightbringer]

Originally posted by Navinod:

I've gotten 6-6-6-6 Chardonnay with three five star reviewers on the starter chateau. They gave me a 4.5. The judges said that I was missing something. It was very enigmatic. I'm guessing it has something to do with hitting that score with the barrel aging. The one I did that with had buttery, so maybe if I didnt have it with that or with a different flavoring. More testing is needed.

Damn, I'm jelly. Do you remeber the steps you took to do that? I'll attempt to get a 6-6-6-6 with both buttery and without buttery.

[Navinod]

I'll try to recreate it. I've been focused on renown farming to try to get the upgrades.

[Nightbringer]

Originally posted by Navinod:

I'll try to recreate it. I've been focused on renown farming to try to get the upgrades.

I feel you, my objective is to get 100 by the end of today. I'll let you know if I get there. You can have my save file if I do! =3