You're independent, living your vision, doing it your way, but you're not alone.  Let VFA give you the tools you need to take advantage of healthy grape markets and navigate rough ones.
Financial Consulting, Planning and Projections


Grape price projections

Wouldn't it be great if you could know what grape prices will be one year, 5 years or 30 years from now? VFA's predictive analysis is the best available to independent vineyard owners.    


Vineyard price trend predictions

Let us help you figure out when to sell or buy and for how much.  Buy and sell decisions are one-time events that will affect you for the rest of your life.  Let VFA help you make the right decision.


Grape contract advice and strategy

What term should you commit your grapes for?  At what prices?  Indexed to district average?  What about quality and performance terms?  VFA's analysis ensures that you don't sign anything without understanding how to best navigate an unknown future.


Developing a financial plan for lenders and investors

Quality financial plans, based on real-world data, real-world experience and real-world expectations not only help you to develop the best financing plan, but can help you convince the financing institution to provide the funds.


Developing yield, quality and marketing strategies that maximize profits

All of the decisions you make in operating a vineyard influence one another, from cultivation and pest control to financial planning and contract negotiations. How do you balance pleasing buyers with making money?  Does making bulk wine make sense this year?  Would your vineyard make the most money with a lower-yielding, higher-quality strategy or by producing more grapes?  How will this effect asset value? VFA can help you develop a coherent plan to tie all of these decisions together into a strategy for success.


Realistic assessments of vineyard value

Appraisers have the luxury of simply comparing vineyards to comparable sales, estimating the market value at that specific point in time and walking away. Vineyard owners do not have this luxury.  They need to understand how seemingly minor differences between vineyards influence their value.  They need solid, discounted cash flow projections based upon their specific situation to assess the viability of a vineyard purchase and to compare it to other possible uses of their resources.  Furthermore, they need to understand how this will fluctuate over time - they need a video of their vineyard's future, not just a snapshot in time.  VFA can provide the detailed valuations you need.


AVA Appraisals

VFA works with Blakeslee Land Services to provide appraisals of AVA value.  Using VFA's grape price projections, Blakeslee Land Servces can break out an accurate, cash flow-based breakdown of how much of a land's value is attributable to the appellation, providing a great depreciation benefit, with what we believe to be the greatest, data-based justification.




Risk Management Services




Market risk assessments

Whether you're investing in a new vineyard or relying on one you have now to support you in retirement, you need to assess the probability that market conditions will support these goals on a timeline that works for you.  Even if you don't need to meet financial goals within a certain time horizon, every vineyard owner should understand the likelihood that life-changing market shifts can occur, so they can be ready, if those changes occur.  VFA's proprietary models can quanitfy these risks for you.


Scenario and sensitivity analysis

Simple financial projections fail to properly capture the range of possible outcomes for vineyards.  VFA can help you determine an accurate range of possible financial returns, assess the likelihood of financial failure and identify the most likely causes of such failure.


Safety and training programs

The politicians and unions keep pushing more and more regulations and are now fighting to put the liability on the vineyard owner, in addition to management companies.  In this new reality, vineyard owners should look at the real costs and risks of hiring outside management or contractors, versus bringing management in house.  VFA has the experience to help you determine the right path and set up your own safety, training and compliance programs. Monitoring and periodic training are also available.


Improving vineyard operations through data

How can you best deal with pests?  Best improve yields?  Best run your vineyard?  Vineyards provide us with all of this information and, while our guts often tell us the answers to these questions, solid data collection can reveal new causes and draw a clearer picture than our guts alone can.  VFA can show you how to start putting together this data in a relatively low-tech, easy way.  Detailed records not only help with operations, but boost valuation upon sale.

Crop insurance advice and strategy

What level of price and yield insurance do you need? At what point are you getting diminshing returns on insurance?  VFA crunches the numbers and does the projections necessary to determine what the optimal level of insurance for your vineyard is.


Drought and climate change strategies

VFA can't predict weather and climate any better than someone flipping a coin, but we can counsel vineyard owners on how to best use your financial and operational assets to confront weather-related challenges.

Transition and Turnaround Management


Distress Situations

Acquisitions that involve distressed assets need to be turned cash flow positive as soon as possible. VFA has a track record of improving asset values, achieving profitability and rehabilitating failing vineyards and the associated business relationships.



During certain legal situations, assets are best held in receivership to preserve value and realize a positive resolution.  VFA works with attorneys to navigate these difficult situations as painlessly - and as profitably - as possible.


Strategies for dealing with a cash crunch

Right now the going is good, but that sometimes feels like the exception to the rule.  VFA has experience working a vineyard on a tight budget and can help you determine how to best leverage your limited resources. 


Entry and exit strategies 

Timing and pricing are only two parts of strategies to enter or exit the vineyard business.  Make sure your business is built on a great foundation when you start it and is built up far beyond this when you leave it. VFA can guide you through this process.


Business Start Up

For investors from outside of the wine industry, VFA can oversee initial operations and establishment of the business entity to ensure success and put in place the mechanisms necessary to not only a good start, but future success.





Though VFA focuses on vineyard owners, wineries can also benefit from some of our services:


Grape price projections


Vineyard price trend predictions


Grape contract advice and strategy


Cost, revenue and cash flow projections and other financial planning

"Gabriel displayed impressive drive and knowledge to save a fast-sinking operation from disaster and return it to profitability for a mutual client."  


-Mark Serlin, Attorney, Serlin and Whiteford