There are seven varieties of grapes and wine in the base game. Learn in this guide how to achieve the ideal traits for each.
Introduction and Contents
Welcome to Hundred Days. You probably found this guide either because you wanted to learn how to make a decent wine from a new grape type or because you wanted to check if you’re making a wine optimally. From having unlocked all achievements (on iOS) and played something like one hundred hours across both iOS and Steam versions, I can explain what the ideal traits are for each wine type and my method to consistently hit those metrics for each. I will not be discussing other systems such as scouting vineyards to purchase, caring for your grapes before harvest, combining grapes from two vineyards into one batch, the tech tree in depth, budgeting and finances, etc.
This guide was written in October-November 2021 using game version 1.2.6, before the Napa Valley expansion. I have not done much with the Grape Lab at all so will not discuss it.
Contents:
1. Important Ideas: “Quality”, Terms, and Tool Shed Equipment
2. Barbera: Your First Red
3. Chardonnay: Your First White
4. Other White Wines
– Arneis
– Cortese
5. Other Red Wines
– Nebbiolo
– Dolcetto
– Grignolino
6. Grape Timelines and Final Thoughts
– includes two charts comparing when all types of grapes can be harvested through when they can be sold as bottles.
*** Final concern: I will discuss the pricing of bottles of each of the grapes in the guide as if high prices of bottles is itself highly indicative of the profitability of each grape and vineyard plot. However, I am more inclined to believe that there is no best and most revenue-producing grape types, and that the overall revenue produced per area by any type of grape (bottle price multiplied by bottle quantity then divided by the size of the area grown) will be roughly equivalent to any other overall revenue per area so long as the soil types are appropriate for the grapes grown and the amount of techs and resources sunk into growing the grapes are the same. I have not tested this hypothesis thoroughly yet, however. If true, it means that growing different types of grapes particularly those deeper in the tech tree is not so much about unlocking that much more profitable types as is the case in many advanced resource types in other games’ tech trees, but instead about having those different grape options available so that you can choose and match the types of grapes to be used for a particular playthrough (story, challenge mode, or endless) to the soil conditions available in the plots you intend to use. Essentially, unlocking more grape types would be about enabling you to finally use your plots efficiently rather than just unlocking the most advanced tech and expecting it to be necessarily better.
1. Important Ideas: “Quality”, Terms, and Tool Shed Equipment
(1) “QUALITY”
The only general tip about before harvesting I want to ensure everyone knows is that wine quality and score (so how much revenue you can generate from it) is heavily influenced by grape Quality. Great and Excellent grapes can be great wines; Average, Good, or worse grapes may best be just sold for bulk. To always get Great or Excellent grapes you will need to adjust your Planting Density based on how favorable a vineyard is for that grape (my rule is to only grow if there are more green vineyard characteristics for that grape than red ones), Prune toward the Very Low or Low side as required, and supplement their growing and processing with other techs as you unlock them.
(2) TERMS
Traits: the five characteristics on which wines are scored: Body, Sweetness, Tannin, Acidity, and Typicity. You can influence the first four of these through selecting your harvest date and controlling the processing of them after harvest. The fifth is essentially a measure of how well you met the other four.
– Body: determined largely though pressing and aging.
– Sweetness: determined by harvest date, pressing, and fermenting.
– Tannin: determined largely through pressing and fermenting.
– Acidity: determined by harvest date and malo.
Must: term used to describe grapes and their juice after harvest before being sold as wine.
Harvest: the act of picking the grapes and converting them into must.
Crush: one step in turning harvested grapes into juice.
Press: extracting juice from crushed grapes.
Ferment: allowing the sugars in grape juice or crushed grapes to be converted by yeast into alcohol.
Malo: malolactic fermentation which reduces acidity.
Age: allowing wine to sit in barrels to increase body and gain additional flavors.
Bottle: process of packing a batch of must into sell-able containers.
Taste: action to have a wine scored, which must be done before bottles can be sold.
(3) TOOL SHED EQUIPMENT
Because there are four types of tractors with overlapping and non-obvious differences, I wanted to outline the functions of every vehicle and machine in the Tool Shed.
TOOL SHED LEVEL 1
Old Crawler Tractor: HARVEST time reduced to 2, can only be used on one vineyard at a time. Does not seem to have other functions.
TOOL SHED LEVEL 2
Crawler Tractor: required to UPROOT a vineyard. Does not seem to have other functions.
Old Tractor: unlocking the tech enables TRIMMING, which requires an Old Tractor for 2 days or a Cab Tractor for 1 day. Does not seem to have other functions.
Trimmer: reduces TRIMMING from 2 days to 1 day “and improves trimming operations”, can only be used on one vineyard at a time. I don’t know how much benefit is provided by using one with a Cab Tractor.
TOOL SHED LEVEL 3
Trailer: you can SELL BULK juice or wine once grapes are pressed, but to SELL GRAPES directly, you either need a trailer or they will be sold automatically if you harvest when you have no available tanks. Note that once harvested, you cannot sell grapes from tanks even if uncrushed; grapes can only be sold right when harvested.
Cab Tractor: HARVEST in 1 day, TRIM in 1 day. Does not seem to have other functions.
TOOL SHED LEVEL 4
Atomizer: TREATMENT time reduced to 2, can only be used on one vineyard at a time. Does not seem to influence duration of treatment protection.
Cutter: WEEDING time reduced to 2, can only be used on one vineyard at a time.
TOOL SHED LEVEL 5
Shoot Remover: SUCKERING time reduced to 2, can only be used on one vineyard at a time.
2. Barbera: Your First Red
SUMMARY
Barbera “barb” is a surprisingly good and profitable grape type for the one that you start every game with. It normally can be grown well in the Bricco region, which is tied for smallest, but barb’s relatively high prices means you will likely continue to bottle barb even into the endgame.
Body: 8
Sweetness: 2
Tannin: 2
Acidity: 10
RECIPE
1 HARVEST
Because the acidity desired is 10, you must harvest it as soon as it is ripe, which should occur immediately after it completes Crop Thinning, which takes two days. For me it typically becomes ripe on around 5 Summer, but your soil composition or pruning may dictate otherwise. Occasionally the acidity will drop from 10 to 9 while crop thinning or a badly timed rainstorm, but that won’t drastically reduce the quality or price of the wine.
Harvesting takes 1-3 days, to conclude on about 1 Autumn. You will be fine with the no-tractor 3-day harvest at first, but will want an Old Crawler Tractor to reduce harvests to 2 days as soon as you have enough vineyards operating that not having one would disrupt optimal acidity harvesting.
2 CRUSH
Crushing takes 2 days with no player choice other than when to begin, through about 3 Autumn.
3 FERMENT
Barb should be fermented until sweetness is reduced to 2. This should take the minimum, two days. Barb is particularly sensitive to “mercaptan” which ruins the wine and lowers the score by about 10 points. Avoid the no punchdown / pumpover option as that makes mercaptan likely, per the developer on Discord. Use x1 even if that increases tannins slightly.
Fermenting should take 2 days, through about 5 Autumn.
4 PRESS
When pressing you want to avoid increasing tannins, so 9% works well.
Pressing takes 2 days, through about 2 Winter.
5 MALO
Do not malo barb, as acidity is best at 10.
6 AGE
Age barb with the strongest barrels you have. Only by aging for the full three days with the final-tier Small Barrels can you normally hit the ideal body of 8.
Aging normally takes 3 days, through about 5 Winter.
7 BOTTLE
Bottling duration is dependent on how many bottles will be produced.
Bottling takes 1-5 days, through about 3 Spring.
8 TASTE
Tasting takes 1 day, through about 4 Spring, with bottles for sale about 5 Spring.
DISCUSSION
Harvesting and processing barb grapes into sell-able wine takes 12-18 days. Bottle prices should rise from 15-18 Euros at game start to at least 30, sometimes 36 Euros later. To my surprise, barb seems to have prices around 35 Euros for scores 95-99, but sometimes only 30 Euros for 100s.
3. Chardonnay: Your First White
SUMMARY
As the simplest white wine, Chardonnay “char” is the easiest of all of the wines to produce well. If you have a particularly great vineyard for it (usually Principe), char may be worth producing into the endgame, but as its price potential is limited, it may be worthwhile to Disable or replant that field toward the endgame.
Body: 6
Sweetness: 3
Tannin: 2
Acidity: 6
RECIPE
1 HARVEST
Harvesting too early is the most likely mistake with char. Because the acidity desired is 6, you should avoid harvesting char for a few days. You may harvest early if overall company management dictates so, though processing it will take longer and you may not be able to hit all ideal traits. For me, char is ready for harvesting on about 1 Autumn.
Harvesting takes 1-3 days, through about 2 Autumn
2 CRUSH
Crushing takes 2 days with no player choice other than when to begin, through about 4 Autumn.
3 PRESS
When pressing you want to avoid increasing tannins too far, so 49% works well. As you get better barrels, you can reduce this percent further.
Pressing takes 2 days, through about 1 Winter.
4 FERMENT
Char should be fermented until sweetness is reduced to 3. This should take the minimum, two days. As a white wine, there is no punchdown / pumpover option. If your grapes were particularly sweet, it may take longer. If they were not sweet enough, there may not be a way to keep sweetness sufficiently high to hit the ideal number.
Fermenting should take 2 days, through about 3 Winter.
5 MALO
Do not malo char unless you harvested it too early. If so, malo does not provide much incremental control, so you may be forced to choose between an acidity too high or too low. Whichever is closest should do best, but it’s best to avoid needing to do this at all.
6 AGE
Age char as required. With the starter large barrels, you will normally need to age it for three days.
Aging takes 1-3 days, through about 1 Spring.
7 BOTTLE
Bottling duration is dependent on how many bottles will be produced.
Bottling takes 1-5 days, through about 4 Spring.
8 TASTE
Tasting takes 1 day, through about 5 Spring, with bottles for sale about 1 Summer.
DISCUSSION
Harvesting and processing char grapes into sell-able wine takes 10-18 days, though they are usually best harvested well after barb. Bottle prices should rise from about 10-15 Euros at the beginning to a stable 28-30 Euros toward the endgame, though in some scenarios even high-scoring chars may not sell much beyond 20 Euros per bottle.
4. The Other White Wines
As with chardonnay, the other whites are processed in this order:
Harvest, crush, press, ferment, malo, age, bottle, taste.
THE OTHER WHITE WINES
ARNEIS SUMMARY
Arneis “arn” is a mid-game wine that you should plant as soon as possible due to its relatively high bottle price. It is my favorite white wine though it does require paying some good attention to throughout harvesting and processing.
Body: 3
Sweetness: 2
Tannin: 2
Acidity: 3
ARNEIS RECIPE
1 HARVEST
Harvesting too early is the most likely mistake with arn. Because the acidity desired is 3, you should avoid harvesting until Autumn. You may harvest early if overall company management dictates so, though processing it will take longer and you may not be able to hit all ideal traits. For me, arn is ripe for harvesting on or about 4 Autumn. By that time it should naturally hit its ideal acidity and not require undergoing malo.
Harvesting takes 1-2 days (by the time you are harvesting this you should be using old crawler tractors if not cab tractors), through about 5 Autumn.
2 CRUSH
Crushing takes 2 days with no player choice other than when to begin, through about 2 Winter.
3 PRESS
When pressing you normally want to avoid increasing either the body or tannins at all so 0% should work well.
Pressing takes 2 days, through about 4 Winter.
4 FERMENT
Arn is one of the touchiest wines to ferment, as its sweetness should be reduced to 2. This should take about 5 days. You probably will need to use a yeast with high or extreme alcohol resistance. As a white wine, there is no punchdown / pumpover option. If your grapes were particularly sweet, it may take longer. If they were not sweet enough, there may not be a way to keep sweetness sufficiently high to hit the ideal number.
Fermenting should take 5 days, through about 4 Spring.
5 MALO
You should not normally need to malo arn, though it may be required if harvested too early or if it was not ripe in late Autumn and you needed to harvest before Winter.
6 AGE
You should not normally need to age arn.
7 BOTTLE
Bottling duration is dependent on how many bottles will be produced.
Bottling takes 1-5 days, through about 2 Summer.
8 TASTE
Tasting takes 1 day, through about 3 Summer, with bottles for sale about 4 Summer, the latest typical for-sale date.
ARNEIS DISCUSSION
Harvesting and processing arn grapes into sell-able wine takes 12-17 days. Bottle prices vary a lot. They may begin at around 20-25 Euros or even around 30 for an 80 score, and can later well exceed 30 or 31 or higher Euros.
CORTESE SUMMARY
Cortese “cort” is a fast and easy to produce wine that yields huge bottle volumes but with limited price growth.
Body: 2
Sweetness: 2
Tannin: 2
Acidity: 8
CORTESE RECIPE
1 HARVEST
Harvest cort at acidity 8. This usually means letting the grapes remain in the field for a day or two, though in some conditions they may be first harvestable at acidity 7 or 8. For me they are usually harvestable around 5 Summer.
Harvesting should take 1 day because you should have unlocked Cab Tractors long before this grape, through about 5 Summer.
2 CRUSH
Crushing takes 2 days with no player choice other than when to begin, through about 2 Autumn.
3 PRESS
When pressing you want to avoid increasing either body or tannins too far, so 12%-49% works well.
Pressing takes 2 days, through about 4 Autumn.
4 FERMENT
Ferment cort until sweetness is 2. This will normally take 2 days. As a white wine, there is no punchdown / pumpover option. If your grapes were particularly sweet, it may take longer. If they were not sweet enough, there may not be a way to keep sweetness sufficiently high to hit the ideal number.
Fermenting should take 2 days, through about 1 Winter.
5 MALO
Even if you harvested cort too early, malo may not be a good option since it does not provide much incremental control, so you may be forced to choose between an acidity too high or too low. Whichever is closest should do best, but it’s best to avoid needing to do this at all.
6 AGE
You should not need to age cort, and even if the body was 1, it’s unlikely that aging will hit the ideal 2, so aging would only be in hopes of imparting more flavor.
7 BOTTLE
Bottling duration is dependent on how many bottles will be produced.
Bottling takes 1-5 days, through about 4 Winter.
8 TASTE
Tasting takes 1 day, through about 5 Winter, with bottles for sale about 1 Spring, the earliest typical for-sale date.
CORTESE DISCUSSION
Harvesting and processing cort grapes into sell-able wine takes 9-13 days, which coupled with its early harvest period means you can begin selling it earlier in the year than other wines and having more space on your board for other activities. Bottle prices in the 80s-100 should settle in the 25-30 Euro range. Because cort is so late in the tech tree, you should be able to handle the excessive number of bottles produced. Just don’t be discouraged by its relatively low price limit.
5A. The Other Red Wines (Pt. 1)
As with barbera, the other reds are processed in this order:
Harvest, crush, ferment, press, malo, age, bottle, taste.
NEBBIOLO SUMMARY
Nebbiolo “neb” is a mid-game wine that you should consider planting as soon as possible due to its relatively high bottle price.
Body: 8
Sweetness: 2
Tannin: 10
Acidity: 10
NEBBIOLO RECIPE
1 HARVEST
Like barb, the acidity desired is 10, so you must harvest neb as soon as it is ripe, which should occur immediately after it completes Crop Thinning, which takes two days. For me it typically becomes ripe on or about 5 Summer, but your soil composition or pruning may dictate otherwise. Occasionally the acidity will drop from 10 to 9 while crop thinning or a badly timed rainstorm, but that won’t drastically reduce the quality or price of the wine.
Harvesting takes 1-2 days (by the time you are harvesting this you should be using old crawler tractors if not, soon enough, cab tractors), through about 1 Autumn.
2 CRUSH
Crushing takes 2 days with no player choice other than when to begin, through about 3 Autumn.
3 FERMENT
Neb should be fermented until sweetness is reduced to 2. This should take the minimum, two days, though perhaps longer in certain vineyard compositions. Unlike barb, tannins should be maximized so use the punchdown option.
Fermenting should take 2 days, through about 5 Autumn.
4 PRESS
When pressing you want to maximize tannins but are unlikely to be able to hit the ideal body score of 8. Also avoid body 7 as then aging will mean body of 9 or 10. So pressing 54%-100% with an eye toward your barrel tech should work.
Pressing takes 2 days, through about 2 Winter.
5 MALO
Do not malo neb, as acidity is best at 10.
6 AGE
Age neb until body 8 is reached. It is my belief due to their descriptions that more time in large or traditional bottles is better than shorter time in small bottles, but I am not certain of that yet despite producing many wines in many playthroughs.
Aging should take 2-3 days, through about 4 Winter.
7 BOTTLE
Bottling duration is dependent on how many bottles will be produced.
Bottling takes 1-5 days, through about 2 Spring.
8 TASTE
Tasting takes 1 day, through about 3 Spring, with bottles for sale about 4 Spring.
NEBBIOLO DISCUSSION
Harvesting and processing neb grapes into sell-able wine takes 11-17 days. Bottle prices in the 80s-100 should vary in the 28-33 Euro range, making it the first good high-price bottles you can produce. I tend to avoid it, however, as having two 10-acid grapes can make managing Exhibitions and other tasks tricky in Summer, though in some playthroughs that may be a best option and worthwhile.
DOLCETTO SUMMARY
Dolcetto “doll” is maybe the hardest wine to produce well, and its lackluster bottle prices makes me hesitant to focus too much on its production unless the map makes that the best strategy.
Body: 8
Sweetness: 3
Tannin: 8
Acidity: 4
DOLCETTO RECIPE
1 HARVEST
Timing when to harvest doll is tricky. It wants acid 4 so it is tempting to leave it in the field as long as possible, but the limited control over malo means doing so means you would miss the ideal mark. Harvesting too early results in grapes not sweet enough to properly ferment and hit the other trait ideals. After much experimentation I have begun always harvesting doll at acid 6. This normally occurs around 3 Autumn.
Harvesting should take 1, maybe 2 days (by the time you are harvesting this you should be using old crawler tractors if not cab tractors), through about 3 Autumn.
2 CRUSH
Crushing takes 2 days with no player choice other than when to begin, through about 5 Autumn.
3 FERMENT
Doll should be fermented until sweetness is reduced to 3. This should take the minimum, two days, though perhaps longer in certain vineyard compositions. The punchdown option will probably be best but be ready to back down a step if pressing and ages afterward doesn’t hit the ideals.
Fermenting should take 2 days, through about 2 Winter.
4 PRESS
When pressing you want to increase tannins significantly to 8 but are unlikely to be able to hit the ideal body score of 8. Also avoid body 7 as then aging will mean body of 9 or 10. So pressing 38%-50% with an eye toward your barrel tech should work
Pressing takes 2 days, through about 4 Winter.
5 MALO
I do not believe I have produced a good doll without using malo. While it may be possible to properly malo a doll down to 4 acid from above 6, I have not been successful doing so and hitting the other metrics. So use the first malo bacteria to move acid from 6 to 4.
Malo should take 1 day, through about 5 Winter.
6 AGE
Age doll until body 8 is reached. It is my belief due to their descriptions that more time in large or traditional bottles is better than shorter time in small bottles, but I am not certain of that yet despite producing many wines in many playthroughs.
Aging should take 1-2 days, through about 2 Spring.
7 BOTTLE
Bottling duration is dependent on how many bottles will be produced.
Bottling takes 1-5 days, through about 5 Spring.
8 TASTE
Tasting takes 1 day, through about 1 Summer, with bottles for sale about 2 Summer.
DOLCETTO DISCUSSION
Harvesting and processing doll grapes into sell-able wine takes 11-17 days. Bottle prices in the 80s-100 should start in the low 20 Euros and continue into the low 30s. Overall, doll is maybe the grape I avoid most, as its touchiness and low price ceiling makes it a lot of careful attention for not an amazing amount of income. But some fields and playthroughs may make it a good option.
5B. The Other Red Wines (Pt. 2)
GRIGNOLINO SUMMARY
GRIGNOLINO “grig” is the final grape you will unlock but one I am continually disappointed to use. It is not hard to properly harvest or process, but its pricing is disappointingly limited.
Body: 6
Sweetness: 2
Tannin: 8
Acidity: 6
GRIGNOLINO RECIPE
1 HARVEST
Harvest grig at acidity 9. This usually means letting the grapes remain in the field for one day, though in some conditions they may be first harvestable at acidity 8 or 9, particularly if the soil isn’t conducive to grig. For me they are usually harvestable around 2 Autumn. You may be tempted to wait to harvest at acid 6 but I have not had luck with that and been forced to harvest at acid 7 or 8 before Winter arrives.
Harvesting should take 1 day because you should have unlocked Cab Tractors long before this grape, through about 2 Autumn.
2 CRUSH
Crushing takes 2 days with no player choice other than when to begin, through about 4 Autumn.
3 FERMENT
Grig should be fermented until sweetness is reduced to 2. This should take three days, though perhaps longer in certain vineyard compositions. Be mindful that because tannins should be increased substantially but not too far, you will likely use the punchdown option, but possibly x2, and you may need to carefully select a medium- or high-resistant yeast rather than a low- or extreme- one.
Fermenting should take 3 days, through about 2 Winter.
4 PRESS
Grig is the most challenging grape to properly press. You want to hit the 8 tannins ideal now but also set up reaching body of 6, which will probably require aging. I find that 18%-27% works well.
Pressing takes 2 days, through about 4 Winter.
5 MALO
Like doll, grig production probably requires a malo step. Maybe your vineyards allow late harvest but mine have not. Use the first malo bacteria to move acid from 9 to 6.
Malo should take 1 day, through about 5 Winter.
6 AGE
Age grig until body 6 is reached. It is my belief due to their descriptions that more time in large or traditional bottles is better than shorter time in small bottles, but I am not certain of that yet despite producing many wines in many playthroughs.
Aging should take 1-3 days, through about 2 Spring.
7 BOTTLE
Bottling duration is dependent on how many bottles will be produced.
Bottling takes 1-5 days, through about 5 Spring.
8 TASTE
Tasting takes 1 day, through about 1 Summer, with bottles for sale about 2 Summer.
GRIGNOLINO DISCUSSION
Harvesting and processing grig grapes into sell-able wine takes 11-17 days. Bottle prices in the 80s-100 should all be in the 25-31 range with decent but not spectacular yield sizes. So grig production is reliable but not spectacular.
6. Grape Timelines and Final Thoughts
GRAPE TIMELINES
Two visualizations may assist you in considering when to expect which grapes to be ready when.
First, this chart presents each grape by color then the order in which you will unlock them and merely displays when each grape will typically undergo each step between harvest and being sold as bottles. Your vineyards will vary based on which grapes you have grown in which quality soil and which techs you employ both for growing and processing the grapes, such as harvesting taking fewer days as you invest in better tractors. The chart may allow you to predict equipment needs or select grapes to grow to reduce bottlenecks in production such as too few presses. Bottling machines especially can cause problems if there are too many wines waiting to be bottled such that your tanks are not ready for the next harvest.
For the late game, this second chart is more representative. It is arranged with the grapes in order by when they should be ready to harvest.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Congratulations. You should well be on your way now to scores of at least 80 on every vintage. Do not be discouraged by 70s scores, as those are inevitable sometimes especially before teching up much, and those bottles are still quite profitable. If you suspect a batch will score less than 70, though, it is worth considering Selling Bulk instead, particularly if your warehouse does not have a lot of space and/or if you cannot sell a lot of orders every day.
After reviewing these recipes, you may be wondering about things such as how profitable each grape and wine type is versus the rest. On that, I have not completed examining. For my money so far, though, I’d wager that barb, neb, arn, and cort all are great options, and that you’ll do best to just match any of those to whichever soil type and altitude your vineyards have. The other options–char, doll, and grig–aren’t terrible, but to me they either are too low priced per bottle or too finicky to process, so I prefer not to grow them if there are options for the others.
Good luck!
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Great guide, Keithustus! This was very useful and comprehensive.