Recent reviews by Vincent

I love tycoon and management games, and have played a few of this type before (Hundred Days, Terroir, Brew Tycoon).
I am always looking for a new vineyard game to scratch this particular itch.

I liked the look of this game, before purchasing it, even. My PC isn't the most powerful, so the fact that it is simpler gfx-wise is a plus for me.
Looking over the screenshots, it seemed to have the depth I was looking for.

I was a little concerned the game would be too confusing and/or complicated to learn, but it actually was not too bad a learning curve, at all. This could be due to my previous experience with similar games, as I mentioned. So, it may be more difficult for those who, in particular, have no clue how wine production works or have limited experience with tycoon games.
However, after playing 30 minutes, and getting a grasp on the basic production cycle, I found the game draw me in much more than I thought it would. (Though I did hope it would).

What I like about this game is it has a perfect balance between being relaxing, and needing attention. It's by no means an idle or hands-off game, but if you want to you can coast along at the slowest speed (or pause if needed), and just take your time monitoring your fields, etc. At least between harvests.
Harvests themselves hectic, but that is the time you will be doing the most work, cultivating, crushing or destemming, fermenting, bottling, then giving out sample bottles of your wine to reviewers and businesses in the hopes they'll like it and pay you a good price-per-bottle, and in buy many of your bottles.

I picked up this game this morning. It is now nearly 4pm, and I have somehow put in 6.5 hours.
I find it to be a very enjoyable game, somehow relaxing and stimulating at the same time.
It is rewarding to figure out different ways of improving your wines.
There are ups and downs, as random events can rough you up, as they do IRL for vineyards. (frosts causing stunting, nearby forest fire smoke affecting taste, mildew, parasites... or you can have visitors end up partaking a little too much in your wine, causing you to foot a cleaning bill.

I don't know what the long-term game looks like, or how much of the game I've seen.
I've mostly been focusing on one type of red wine, and can experiment with others to see how it goes.

There are a three settings/locations you can play, which kind of act as a pseudo difficulty level.
At any location, you can choose to play in the northern or southern hemisphere, which simply affects which time of the year harvest is / when the seasons are.
The three locations change the backdrop of your fields. They also affect things like moisture/rain level, hot and cold extremes, and soil quality.

I ran into several minor bugs, but have reported them with the in-game bug report feature. None of them are game breaking.

If you have little knowledge on how vineyards operate, doing some research on YouTube could be a fun extra-curricular activity/learning experience. There's one I quite enjoyed that was short(ish) (15 mins) and to the point, "Introduction to Winemaking" on GuildSomm International's channel. If you need a bit of a knowledge starter/boost on this topic.

I have been going on for too long with this review.
I can sum it up by saying I am enjoying this game a lot, and will definitely be playing it further.

If you like tycoon games, and want a good vineyard simulator, this could be work taking a look at.
I am sure glad I took the plunge.

Negative reviews mention the game needing too much involvement for an incremental game.
This may be true, to a certain extent, but personally I enjoy the pacing.
I don't believe this game, or its developer, deserve a low rating. So, I wanted to show my appreciation with a positive review.
I find this game fascinating and enjoyable.