Vineyards are a type of wine resource building in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
A steady alcohol supply improves the happiness of all classes, which is hardly surprising.
A vineyard is a farm dedicated to the growing of grapes and the production of wine. Thanks to poor quality water supplies in towns and cities, wine, along with ale, is the standard drink of many Europeans, and one of life's little pleasures. Alcohol provides a welcome distraction from life's anxieties, for the lowliest revolutionary serf to the richest nobleman. Building a vineyard will result in a small improvement of happiness, while also slightly improving town wealth.
The patterns of growth and consumption of wine in the 18th Century often had some odd roots. The British taste for "claret" or Bordeaux wine, dates back to the Middle Ages when the English monarchy controlled the region. Napoleon's Continental System of denying trade to English merchants also damaged the claret producing areas of France and probably helped make English drinkers very angry when they sobered up! There were many local grape varieties under cultivation, because pests accidentally imported from America in the 19th century wiped out older varieties. Wines would have tasted very different from each other, even within the same region than is the case today.
General Information[]
Wine resource slots are present mostly in regions close to the Mediterranean Sea, such as Spain, southern France, the Italian Peninsula, and Greece. For the few regions lucky enough to build them, vineyards are a very cheap way of raising town wealth, being tied for best cost per region wealth increase per turn as markets. They also slightly increase happiness.
Vineyards pays for themselves after 21-28 turns, including build time. This is a pretty rapid return on investment compared to most other buildings, and growth over time means that profits grow exponentially over time. All wine resource spots begin the campaign with a vineyard built already, however.
The Peninsular Campaign[]
In The Peninsular Campaign, vineyards require 200 gold and 2 turns to build.