How a Vegetable Farmer Broke into the Wine Business

Creating a world-class vineyard in the über-competitive Northern California market is no easy task -- especially when all you've ever known and grown is vegetables.

Balletto Vineyards started out as a four-acre vegetable farm in 1977. John Balletto turned down a football scholarship to take up the family business after the premature death of his father.

"My mother was 60 and I was 17 and we worked basically 24 hours a day. I would pick the vegetables during the day and take them to the fresh produce market at night and drive the truck," says Balletto. "Our first year we grossed $5,000 and it was a very, very difficult year," he recalls.

That's when John really started learning the lessons that helped him succeed.

"My mother taught me that every time you make a few dollars to put that money toward buying land," he says. John's grandparents lost their land in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

The next few years were healthy ones for the Ballettos. John increased the crop diversification from zucchini and squash to 60 other kinds of vegetables. At one point, Balletto was one of the largest vegetable farms north of San Francisco.

But three El-Niño rainstorms, the passage of NAFTA, and unionization forced John to think beyond vegetable farming. "It was time for us to move on and go into the grape business," he says.

But the transition wasn't easy.

"We had to mortgage everything. It took about a three-year period to convert everything over. And when you plant grapes, you don't have production for three or four years," says John.

And of course, working a vineyard is a year-round, 24/7 job.

"We have some very critical times in the wine business. There's frost protection in April and May. If you don't get up at 2 o'clock in the morning and turn your sprinklers on when it's 33 degrees, you have a chance of losing your whole crop," says John.

Then there are the little critters like gophers that feast on the grapes.

But challenges aside, the Balletto brand has continued to attract followers. Balletto credits the lush growing region of the Russian River Valley. "It's one of the best areas in the world to grow premium wine grapes," he says.

Today Balletto Vineyards spans 600 acres. The first vintage was about 400 cases. Now Balletto is pushing 15,000. The goal in the next three years is 25,000 cases.