If you are still looking for plots of land, there is a subdivision
north of Kerrville, outside of Mason, Texas, called Persimmon Point,
where I have putchased about 45 acres right on the Llano River. Of
that 45, about 15 look to be very good grape friendly land, with
sandy loam soil, good drainage, etc. There are about 5 of the 10 lots
left for sale. If you, or anyone else on this list is interested,
please email me offline and I'll set you up with the seller.
Even though there are some deed restrictions on what you can do
(mainly on what kind of house and/or barn you build), growing grapes
was not a problem according to the seller. As for a small commercial
operation, he was open to that as well, but wanted assurance that the
operation wouldn't get too oversized. My thoughts were to use this
river front property to grow the grapes, then to buy more land on the
Hwy down the road to put a facility.

The riverfront property is quite beautiful, and great for flyfishing
as well.

Will
glide@...

--- In texasgrapes@y..., clbutler@f... wrote:
> Brian having purchase several different plots of land over the
years,
> I would suggest that you skip this one. For you to produce 1000 to
> 2000 cases a year means you are running a commercial operation. At
> any point the former owners could show and shut you down because of
> the deed restriction. I suggest looking for another piece of land.
>
>
> --- In texasgrapes@y..., brian@s... wrote:
> > i'm currently looking at a piece of land near kerrville. i'm
> > negotiating a deed restriction with the original owners. the
> > restriction prevents commercial activity. my desire is to build a
> > small vinyard and make wine.
> >
> > the sticking point is that the former owners (across the street
> > neighbors), don't want a big storefront and don't want semis
> driving
> > up and down the road every day. i'm in the process of educating
> > myself and them in just how "commercial" a small vinyard really
is.
> >
> > my contention is that, given i'll probably never be able to afford
> or
> > operate more than, say 8 acres, the volume, which i'm guestimating
> at
> > about 1000-2000 cases a year, doesn't really result in any huge
> > operation. they have a 200 acre farm across the road and said
they
> > wouldn't mind if i grazed cattle or grew more conventional crops,
> but
> > they're a little squeemish about a vinyard, probably because it is
> an
> > unknown quantity to them. so far all they've seen are the big
> signs
> > in fredericksburg, begging tourists to drop by, and they don't
want
> > to live across the street from that. i don't want to live like
> that
> > either, the main reason we're looking out in the sticks is to have
> a
> > quiet haven away from the city (the one with the star on the map).
> >
> > all that said i really don't know what i'm preparing to get myself
> > into, other than the persuit of a passion and a hobby that will
> keep
> > me more than occupied for the next few decades.
> >
> > so, any of you out there that have been in and around the
business,
> > what would you have to say to me and my future neighbors.