From a banker’s perspective, vineyard loans in Washington State can generally be categorized as high risk or low risk, with risk depending on whether the grapes are owned or contracted with the state’s largest wine companies. For winery financing, risks are all relatively high and loan terms ­generally reflect the high risk. Wine-grape acreage in the state—at around 43,000 acres—represents 2.4 percent of the state’s 1.9 million acres of irrigated agriculture. Of the total wine grape acreage, Bill Shibley estimates that 85 percent is owned or contracted by the state’s five largest wineries and represents little third-party risk to the […]