Harvest math
Tons to gallons: how much wine you actually get from a ton of grapes
The short answer: plan on roughly 150 gallons of finished wine per ton — about 60–63 cases, or ~750 bottles. The long answer is that the number is a chain of decisions and losses, from how hard you press to how long the wine sits in barrel. Here's the whole chain, with the ballparks at each link.
Start Free TrialThe quick-reference numbers
| Stage | Per ton, typical | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| White — juice at the press | ~150–165 gal | Press regime: free run only vs. keeping press cuts |
| Red — must at the crusher | ~160–180 gal | Berry size, stem inclusion, MOG |
| Red — pressed off after fermentation | ~150–160 gal | Pomace moisture, press hardness |
| Finished, bottled wine | ~135–150 gal | Lees, racking, evaporation, filtration & bottling losses |
Conversions worth memorizing:
- 1 case (12 × 750 mL) = 9 L = 2.38 gallons
- 1 barrel (59 gal) ≈ 24–25 cases ≈ ~295 bottles
- 1 ton ≈ 2 to 2.5 barrels of finished wine
- 1 ton ≈ 60–63 cases ≈ ~750 bottles
Where the gallons go
Between the scale and the bottling line, every lot pays a series of tolls. None of them is large; together they routinely take 10–15% of the must:
- The press. Whatever stays in the pomace. The biggest single decision — pressing harder buys gallons and costs elegance.
- Gross lees. Settling juice or racking new wine off primary lees typically leaves a few percent behind.
- Rackings. Each racking strands a little wine below the valve — half a gallon to a few gallons per vessel, several times a year.
- Evaporation in barrel. The angels' share: commonly ~3–5% per year, replaced from topping stock that is itself inventory.
- Filtration and bottling. Line startup, hose and filter hold-up, and fills typically cost another 1–3% at the very end.
The planning mistake isn't using the wrong rule of thumb — it's letting these losses go unrecorded, so the yield number you quote next year is a guess about a guess. Every gallon that disappears should be booked as a loss on the operation that caused it. That's also exactly what the TTB's operations report expects.
A worked example: 5 tons of Pinot noir
Five tons come across the scale on harvest morning — 10,000 lbs on the weigh tag. Here's a realistic path to bottles:
| Step | Gallons | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Crushed to must | 850 | 170 gal/ton |
| Pressed off after fermentation | 780 | ~8% stays in the pomace |
| Racked off gross lees | 730 | ~6% to lees |
| 12 months in barrel | 700 | ~4% evaporation, net of topping |
| Filtered and bottled | 686 | ~2% line and filter losses |
| Cased | 288 cases | 686 ÷ 2.38 — about 3,460 bottles |
Net: 137 gallons and ~58 cases per ton — inside the ballpark, and every gallon between 850 and 686 has a booked explanation. Planning backwards works the same way: to bottle 500 cases you need ~1,190 finished gallons, which at ~140 gal/ton means contracting for about 8.5 tons.
Yield you can compute, not estimate
In Crush the chain above isn't a spreadsheet you rebuild each November. The weigh tag is the lot's origin record, and every operation after it — press, rack, top, blend, bottle — conserves quantity: what leaves a vessel, minus the loss you book, is exactly what arrives at the next one. Yield per ton, per block, per vintage is then just a query over operations that already balance — the same records that produce the TTB operations report. To see the whole season end to end, follow one lot from crush to cellar.
Frequently asked questions
How many bottles from a ton of grapes?
Roughly 700–760. A ton typically finishes at 140–150 gallons; at 2.38 gallons per case that's 60–63 cases of twelve.
How many tons per acre should I expect?
Commonly 2–5 tons per acre, but it varies widely with variety, spacing, farming, and the quality target — premium programs often crop lower on purpose. Use your own blocks' history over any published average.
Why did my white lot yield less than my red?
Whites are pressed before fermentation, so the press decision caps the yield immediately; reds ferment on the skins and surrender more liquid at pressing. Gentle pressing and strict juice selection trade gallons for quality either way.
Know your yield to the gallon
Weigh tags in, operations recorded at the tank, losses booked where they happen — yield per block becomes a fact, not a November estimate.