Viticulture

Overview

Viticulture is a worker-placement strategy game about running a vineyard in Tuscany. Players plant vine cards, harvest grapes, make wine, and fill wine orders to earn victory points. The game follows the seasonal rhythm of winemaking, with different actions available in summer and winter. The first player to reach 20 victory points triggers the final year. The Essential Edition includes the Tuscany expansion’s streamlined visitor cards.

Components

• 1 Game board with seasonal action spaces
• 6 Vineyard mats (player boards with 3 fields each)
• 42 Vine cards (green), 36 Wine order cards (purple)
• 38 Summer visitor cards (yellow), 38 Winter visitor cards (blue)
• 18 Field cards, 24 Automa cards, 36 Mama/Papa cards
• 30 Worker meeples + 6 Grande workers (1 per player)
• 50 Grape/wine tokens, VP tokens
• 48 Wooden structure tokens, 72 Lira coins
• Wake-up chart roosters
• First-player token
• Rulebook

Setup

1. Place the game board centrally.
2. Each player takes a vineyard mat with 3 field cards.
3. Draw Mama and Papa cards for starting resources, workers, and cards.
4. Place scoring markers at 0.
5. Determine first player randomly.

Turn Structure

Each year has the following seasons:

Spring: Wake-Up

Players place rooster tokens on the wake-up chart (positions 1-7) in reverse turn order. Position determines action order and bonuses for the year. Lower numbers go first but receive lesser bonuses.

Summer: Worker Placement

Players take turns placing workers on summer action spaces:

• Draw vine card
• Play summer visitor card
• Give vineyard tour (earn 2 lira)
• Build structure (pay lira to build trellis, irrigation, buildings, etc.)
• Plant vine (place vine card on a field)
• Sell grape/field (sell for immediate VP or lira)

Fall: Visitor

Each player draws 1 visitor card (summer or winter) without using a worker.

Winter: Worker Placement

Players take turns placing workers on winter action spaces:

• Draw wine order card
• Play winter visitor card
• Harvest field (convert vines to grape tokens on crush pad)
• Make wine (convert grape tokens to wine tokens in cellar)
• Fill wine order (discard wine matching order requirements for VP + residual income increase)
• Train worker (pay 4 lira for a new worker)

Year End

1. Grape and wine tokens age (+1 value each, capped at 9).
2. All workers return to supply.
3. Collect residual payment.
4. Discard down to 7 cards.
5. Rotate first-player token.

Actions

Key Mechanics

Planting Vines: Each vine card shows red/white grape values. Fields have maximum capacity (5, 6, or 7 total value). Some vines require trellis or irrigation structures.

Harvesting: Sum all red grape icons on vines in one field to create 1 red grape token. Same for white. Each field harvests once per year.

Making Wine: Convert grape tokens to wine tokens. Red grapes -> red wine. White grapes -> white wine. Red + white -> blush wine (requires medium cellar). Red + white + red + white -> sparkling wine (requires large cellar).

Filling Orders: Wine order cards require specific wine types at minimum values. Fulfilling orders grants VP and increases residual income.

Grande Worker: Each player has 1 Grande worker that can be placed on a full action space (bypasses occupancy limits).

Aging: Grape and wine tokens increase in value by 1 each year end but cannot exceed 9.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

First player to reach 20 VP triggers the final year. All players complete the year, then the highest score wins.

VP Sources:

• Filling wine orders (primary source)
• Visitor card effects
• Selling grapes/fields
• Structure bonuses

Tiebreakers (in order): Most lira, total wine cellar value, total grape crush pad value.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• VP Floor: Players cannot go below -5 VP.
• Worker Limit: Maximum 5 regular workers + 1 Grande worker per player.
• Field Capacity: Each field has a maximum total vine value (5, 6, or 7).
• Cellar Requirements: Small cellar (free): wines up to value 3. Medium cellar: wines up to 6. Large cellar: wines up to 9.
• Crushing Pad: Can hold one token per value space.
• Residual Income: Starts at 0; increases when filling orders. Collected each year end.
• Action Space Limits: Most spaces allow 1 worker (2+ in games with more players via bonus spaces).
• Structures: Trellis required for certain vines. Irrigation required for others. Yoke increases harvest efficiency. Buildings provide various benefits.
• Wine Blending: Blush wine requires 1 red + 1 white grape (value = combined). Sparkling requires additional grapes.
• Solo Mode (Automa): Uses Automa deck for an AI opponent.

Player Reference

Season	Actions
Spring	Choose wake-up position
Summer	Draw vine, play visitor, tour, build, plant, sell
Fall	Draw 1 visitor card (free)
Winter	Draw order, play visitor, harvest, make wine, fill order, train
Year End	Age tokens, return workers, collect residual

Wine Types: Red, White, Blush (red+white), Sparkling (2 red+2 white)

Victory: First to 20 VP triggers final year; highest VP wins