Viticulture Essential Edition
339 questions players ask about Viticulture Essential Edition, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-23.
339 questions players ask about Viticulture Essential Edition, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-23.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
No — there is no upper limit on points. Older printings stopped the track at 25, but the Essential Edition dropped that cap, so keep counting past 25 if you get there.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
No — money is unlimited. If the bank runs out of coins, track the extra some other way.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2020.
No — the tokens aren't meant to cap anything; use a substitute if you run short. In practice you rarely need many, because each harvested field yields at most one red and one white grape token.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
Lira is public; the card faces are hidden. Your vineyard mat, available workers, lira and the number and type of cards you hold are all open information, but the cards themselves stay in your hand. Playing with open hands is only a teaching suggestion for first-time players.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
No — the starting Pinot was a rule from the first and second editions. In the Essential Edition your starting cards and resources come only from your Mama and Papa cards; you'd only hold a Pinot if your Mama's vine draw happens to be one.
The rulebook's "Mamas and Papas" section covers this directly.
Yes — take everything from your Mama card first (workers and the cards she tells you to draw), then look at what you got before choosing between the Papa's structure/worker/VP and the lira. Players make the Papa choice in clockwise order starting with the first player.
The rulebook's "Mamas and Papas" section covers this directly.
Yes — every Mama gives 2 regular workers and every Papa gives the grande worker, and everyone gets one of each card, so nobody can start without a grande. You can never gain a second grande: training only adds regular workers, up to 5 regular workers plus 1 grande.
The rulebook's "Mamas and Papas" section covers this directly.
It's free and built immediately — place the structure token on your vineyard mat during setup. The alternative printed on the Papa is a lira amount, usually equal to or a bit less than that structure's cost.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
It's the medium cellar.
The rulebook's "Play 1 Visitor Card" section covers this directly.
Face up — a played visitor goes face up on its discard pile. It matters because some visitors let you take cards from the top of a discard pile.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Not with a base-game board action. A few visitor cards allow that kind of trade, and the Tuscany board's trade action can do it.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Every year, immediately — each spring you choose a row again and take that row's bonus as soon as you place your rooster, not later on your turn. Row 1 gives no bonus.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2023, and it matches the rulebook.
Neither — every season restarts from the top of the wake-up chart. Whoever chose the earliest row in spring goes first in summer, fall and winter, even if they were the last to act in the season before.
The rulebook's "Worker Placement" section covers this directly.
One per turn. Each player places a single worker (or passes) and play moves on in wake-up order, going around repeatedly until everyone has passed. That's why more workers matter: you get more turns, and any you don't use in summer are available in winter.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025.
Everyone is always in the same season. After you pass, you wait until every player has passed before the next season starts, and that season again begins at the top of the wake-up chart.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
You may pass on any turn, even with workers left. Placing your last worker uses up that turn; when your turn comes around again with nothing to place, you pass. Once passed, you take no more turns that season.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, the first worker can take it — the available spaces may be claimed in any order, so the bonus usually goes to whoever reaches that action first. The bonus sits in the second position only so it's unavailable in 2-player games. The optional friendly variant restricts grabbing a bonus space you won't use.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026, and it matches the rulebook.
No — at 2 players only the leftmost space of each action is used, and on the base board those spaces carry no bonus. A grande on a full action goes beside the spaces and gets no bonus either. (The Tuscany board does add a few 2-player bonuses.)
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026, and it matches the rulebook.
No — the action is mandatory but the bonus is optional, so you may sit on a bonus space and decline the bonus. Using a bonus space only to keep it from others is legal in the standard rules; the friendly variant that forbids it is optional.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
No — placing a worker commits you to taking that action, so you can't go to Plant a Vine without a plantable vine, or take a bonus without doing the main action. The same applies to structure actions and special workers.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — the action and its bonus can be resolved in either order, so a lira bonus effectively works as a discount (you can train a worker with ₤3 on the bonus space) and a VP bonus can be taken before spending VP.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — if another space on the action is open you can place another regular worker there (with 3+ players), and your grande can always join a full action. Your workers ignore where your other workers already are.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — the grande may join any fully occupied action no matter whose workers fill it, including your own, at any player count. That lets you take the same action twice, e.g. fill two wine orders. You still can't harvest the same field twice in a year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025, and it matches the rulebook.
No — when all spaces are full the grande goes on the action's artwork, not on a space, so it takes the action without any bonus. It never moves onto a space that's closed for your player count.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes to all three — while an action has an open space, the grande is placed on a space like any regular worker: it gets that space's bonus and blocks the space for others. Its special ability only comes into play once every available space is full.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — there's no limit. Grandes don't block each other, so any number of players can add their grande to a full action, even one that already holds another grande or their own regular worker. In a 2-player game one action can end up with a regular worker and both grandes.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
The grande stays put — it sits on the artwork and never moves into the freed space. The empty space is open to any player, and whoever places there next gets its bonus, even if it was already claimed earlier that year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
No — the grande's ability to join a full action only works on the main game board, not on your Yoke, structure cards or vineyard mat. There it's an ordinary worker, so a Yoke you've already used this year can't take your grande too. The designer limited it this way so private structures wouldn't become too strong.
The rulebook's "Gain ₤1" section covers this directly.
Both seasons, and it has no worker limit — any number of workers from any players can use it over the year. Each worker placed there is a turn and gains ₤1.
No — planting never costs money, whether by the action or a visitor. The number on a vine card is the value of the grapes it produces, not a price; you only need the trellis and/or irrigation the card shows.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — any combination of vines can share a field. The only limit is that the total of all vine values on the field can't exceed its maximum (5, 6 or 7), counting red and white together.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — the bonus on those spaces simply repeats the action: draw a second vine card, or plant a second vine from your hand.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2021.
Yes — Give a Tour just pays ₤2 (₤3 with the bonus) and has no requirement. Only the Tasting Room's extra VP needs a wine token in your cellar.
The rulebook's "Sell at Least One Grape or Buy/Sell One Field" section covers this directly.
They're the sale price for grapes on the base board's Sell Grapes action: values 1–3 sell for ₤1, 4–6 for ₤2 and 7–9 for ₤3. The Tuscany board has no sell-grape action (grapes are traded instead), so you ignore them there.
The rulebook's "Sell at Least One Grape or Buy/Sell One Field" section covers this directly.
No — buying back just flips the field to its plantable side. Planting is a separate Plant action, so it takes two actions. While sold, the field can't be planted or used at all, and you can only sell a field with no vines on it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020, and it matches the rulebook.
No — you may only play a visitor whose effect you can fully carry out, including any cost (e.g. you must have enough lira to pay every opponent). If a card lists several things joined together, you must do all of them. Effects that say other players may do something don't count against you: they can all decline and the card is still played.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — Stonemaier's FAQ says an "up to" effect must be fulfilled to some extent, so "plant up to 2 vines" means planting at least 1. The designer calls this a global rule: you can't make zero wine and still claim a reward for having made wine. On cards that pair an "up to" effect with another fixed effect, some players treat doing only the fixed part as enough, but the official wording favors doing at least one.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025, and it matches the rulebook.
As a hard split into two complete, independent options: do everything before the OR, or everything after it. A cost, condition or bonus on one side doesn't apply to the other — e.g. the Merchant's ₤3 only pays for the option before the OR. A lowercase "or" just chooses between items inside one clause.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
You must do two different options. A plain list ("A, B, or C") means pick one; "Choose 2" means you need to be able to complete two different ones, so you can't play it for just one or pick the same option twice.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
No — a single card's effects can be resolved in any order unless it says "then". So you can draw the Crusher's wine order before making wine, or build a Trellis with the Overseer and then plant a vine that needs it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — resolve the first card completely before playing the second, and play both within that one action; you can't save the second visitor for later in the season. Only the effects within one card can be reordered.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026, and it matches the rulebook.
The plain worker icon means any worker, grande included, so cards like the Producer can return your grande. Cards that say "regular worker" mean only regular workers; the designer ruled in 2026 that such effects can't retrieve Tuscany special workers either.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
A number beside the icon is how many tokens; a number inside the icon is the value of one token. So a 5 inside a grape icon gives you one new 5-value grape — it doesn't raise an existing grape. If that crush pad space is already taken, place the new grape on the next lower open value.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes — a grey wine token means any wine type, and make-wine effects on visitors work like the normal action, so you can make blush or sparkling. You still need the right grapes and cellar (blush 4+, sparkling 7+); only a colored icon limits the type.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes — it works exactly like the board action without placing a worker: making wine uses grapes from your crush pad, and filling an order discards the required wine tokens. Only cards that say "place" or "gain" a token give you one from outside your vineyard.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Any card type — vine, wine order, summer or winter visitor.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024, and it matches the rulebook.
In wake-up order, starting from the top of the wake-up chart, not from the player who played the card. The other players don't place workers to take part; only the card's player used a worker.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Yes — "each/all players" includes whoever played the card, while rewards counted "for each opponent" only count the others. For example, the Motivator lets you retrieve your own grande too, but you only score for opponents who retrieve theirs.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — passing only stops you placing more workers that season; you can still accept offers from opponents' visitors, such as paying ₤1 to train a worker with the Guest Speaker. The Motivator is the stated exception: players who already passed can't retrieve their grande.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes — you pay the structure's normal cost unless the card gives a discount or a different cost. The Contractor's benefit is getting two of its options for one worker, not a free building.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
No — the VP loss replaces the lira cost entirely. You just can't pay VP you don't have below the track's floor: no one can go under -5 VP.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Yes, and no — a discount equal to or larger than the cost makes the structure free (the Homesteader's ₤3 off builds a Trellis or Irrigation for nothing), and you only need to have the discounted amount.
The rulebook's "Upgrading the Cellar" section covers this directly.
The next one up from what you have: medium if you only have the starting small cellar, large if you already have medium. You can never build the large cellar without the medium, though a card that builds two structures can build medium and then large.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2023.
If your cellar limits the move, yes — you age as far as the cellar allows (a wine meant to rise 2 or 3 spaces may move less or not at all). If you have no wine tokens at all, no. The Oenologist cards never let wine age past your cellars.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Only if the card says so — training by visitor follows the normal rule that a new worker waits until next year. Cards like the Governess that say "you may use this year" make an exception: the worker is permanent and available immediately, but only in the current season, not an earlier one.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes — all normal planting rules apply unless the card explicitly lifts them, as the Cultivator (field limit) and Sharecropper (structures) do. That includes everyone planting with the Volunteer Crew.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Use the Essential Edition visitors; they replace the old normal/advanced split, with each Essential card keeping the name and generally the Advanced card's ability. At high player counts you may also shuffle in the old Tuscany visitors so the decks reshuffle less.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
None — no base game or expansion visitor uses that icon. The designer called the rulebook section a leftover and said the icon and its references would be removed. Card effects happen once unless stated otherwise.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Yes — draw the vine and plant it if you can; if you can't, that's fine. Treat it as "plant up to 1 vine".
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
You swap two vines already planted on two of your different fields; nothing goes to or comes from your hand. Both fields must stay within their maximum value afterwards, so a field over its limit from the Cultivator can only take part if the swap brings it back within the limit. Moving vines isn't planting, so the Windmill doesn't trigger, and a field already harvested this year still can't be harvested again.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
Exactly ₤4 — visitors that reward structures of a given cost only count that exact cost. In the base game that's the medium cellar and the Cottage, so at most 2 VP (Tuscany structure cards costing ₤4 can add more). Structures you got from your Papa card count too.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
No — you may discard any 2 vine cards from your hand. The designer first ruled in 2017 that they had to be the uprooted cards, then reversed that a few months later to match the rulebook's Sharecropper clarification.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
No — uproot one planted vine back to your hand, then discard any one vine card from your hand; it needn't be the uprooted one. The designer revised his first answer on the Planter to match the rulebook's Sharecropper note.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Yes — you gain the lira for planting 1 or 2 vines, but you can't use that option to plant none.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Place an unused worker on a legal space (for your player count) in a later season. At the start of that season, before anyone's normal turn, you take the action — and the space's bonus, if it has one. Then the season proceeds from the top of the wake-up chart, so if you're first you effectively go twice in a row. On the base board this means winter actions.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The worker does nothing: it stays where it was placed, keeping that space occupied for the season, and comes home at year end as usual. The space only had to be legal for the player count when you placed it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Up to 2 of your own workers from any action other than the play-summer-visitor action where you played the Producer — including your Yoke or private structures and (on the Tuscany board) spring spaces. Your grande counts. You can never retrieve opponents' workers, or the worker that played the Producer.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Each opponent chooses whether to give you ₤2; you gain 1 VP (not 2) for each opponent who doesn't.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Discard 1 grape token to gain 1 residual payment, OR discard 1 wine token to gain 2 residual payments (move up the residual track). "1 grape" is a single token of either color.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
The Essential Edition's ₤3 discount. The older ₤1 version isn't broken, just weaker.
The rulebook's "Cultivator" section covers this directly.
Yes — it ignores the field's limit for that one planting, even if the field is already full. It's a one-time exception: you can't keep overplanting that field later.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
No — a sold field isn't yours any more, so it doesn't pay the ₤2 per empty owned field.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
No — each option deals with a single grape of the color you choose, not one of each.
Discard any 2 cards from your hand, then draw 1 card of each of the four types: vine, wine order, summer visitor and winter visitor.
Opponents may together hand you exactly 3 visitor cards (summer or winter, split among them however they agree) to cancel your draw. If they don't give 3 in total, you draw 3 winter visitors from the deck instead.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2022.
Six vine cards planted across your fields, not six value. And you must actually plant a vine with the Grower first; you can't play it only for the 2 VP when you can't plant.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Yes — check only the field you planted on: it needs at least 3 vine cards with different names. A two-word variety like Cabernet Sauvignon is one name.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Three, and you pick one: gain ₤3, build a structure at a ₤1 discount, or plant up to 2 vines.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, even sparkling — "value 4 or greater" goes all the way up to 9, so with only a small cellar you can make up to 2 wines of any type worth 4–9, placing them in cellar spaces you haven't built. If the matching space is taken, the wine is made at its value and then devalued to the next open space as usual.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
They age only within the cellar section they sit in — a 4 or 5 in an unbuilt medium cellar can reach 6, but goes no higher until you own both medium and large cellars. Otherwise they're normal wine: you can fill orders with them.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025.
Yes — "any player" includes you, so the wine you discard must be the single most valuable wine token in every cellar. A tie with any other wine, even another of yours, means you don't get the 2 VP.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025.
Yes — "all players" includes you, and that can be the grande that played the card. You gain VP only for opponents who retrieve theirs.
The rulebook's "Motivator" section covers this directly.
No — players who have passed for the season aren't eligible. A player who has placed all their workers but hasn't passed yet can still retrieve it.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2021.
Yes — the space is empty, so anyone (including you) can place there this winter and take its bonus. The retrieved grande can only be used on winter actions, since it's the last season.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
It lets you take any action from an earlier season without placing a worker and without its bonus, even if every space is full. On the base board that means a summer action. Choosing a wake-up row isn't an action, and you can't use it to play the Planner, because winter has no later season to plan for.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
All of a player's workers, including one trained this year that can't be used yet, the grande, and the temporary worker while they hold it. The designer also ruled that a player who has 7 because of the temporary worker still qualifies, in the spirit of the card.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No to the first: you must pick an option you can complete in full (you can't give 1 card instead of 2). The Queen can still be played if you can do some of the options. When you give cards, you choose which ones.
It's the residual payment symbol: pay ₤1 to gain 1 residual payment, or lose 2 residual payments to gain 2 VP. You must have the full 2 residual to lose; there's no partial payment.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
No — once played it's no longer in your hand.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — pick one of three: make up to 2 wine, fill 1 wine order, or discard 1 grape to gain 2 VP. The VP come only with the grape discard.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
The top card of 2 different discard piles, into your hand. It can't pick itself up: you draw while playing it, before it reaches the discard pile.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Give up a single token — one grape OR one wine — and you get both 1 VP and 1 residual payment, once. Earlier printings demanded a grape and a wine; the Essential Edition changed "and" to "or".
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No and no — the ₤3 pays only for the grape option, which places a 1-value red and white grape on your crush pad from outside your vineyard (no vines needed). Filling an order for the extra VP costs nothing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
No — you must build a structure with the card first; only then do you check for 6 structures and gain 2 VP.
No — follow the current card text and the normal wine-making rules, so each player needs grapes on their crush pad and open spaces in their cellar. The old FAQ note about making as many wines of one type as you can described an earlier version of the card and has been removed.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2020.
Yes — chosen opponents have no choice; they give a summer visitor if they can. You gain 1 VP for each chosen opponent who has none to give.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Yes — you still harvested 3 fields; the grapes that don't fit are simply lost.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes, you need at least 1 wine token, and no, it scores at most 1 VP per year. Older editions didn't require wine; the Essential Edition added it. Giving extra tours (for example with your grande) earns the lira again but not another VP.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2020.
No — it gives at most 1 VP per year, on your first planting that year. If a card lets you build the Windmill and then plant (e.g. the Homesteader), build it first and you score the VP; plant first and you get nothing.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — the Yoke can be used once per year in either worker-placement season, either to uproot a vine back to your hand or to harvest a field. A field can still only be harvested once per year.
The rulebook's "Cottage" section covers this directly.
No worker — the Cottage lets you draw one extra visitor card each fall, summer or winter as you choose, on top of the normal fall draw. The two cards can be the same type.
Yes — you build each structure only once and it applies to every field on your vineyard.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
You choose only the deck — summer or winter — and draw its top card blind into your hand. You don't place a worker and you don't play it in the fall; visitors are played only through the visitor actions in summer and winter.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
No — choose both decks and draw both cards before looking at either. The two can come from the same deck or different ones.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
Place a worker on the action and pay ₤4 (the bonus space's ₤1 can count toward it). Set the new worker beside the action: it occupies no space and joins your other workers at year end, so it's usable from next year. You can't take the action if you already have the maximum of 5 regular workers plus your grande (the temporary worker doesn't count), and untrained workers can never be placed.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Yes — nothing limits it beyond lira and the worker cap. You can use another open Train space, send your grande to a full one, or train through visitors.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
Three — the bonus adds one more wine token to the action's 2.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019, and it matches the rulebook.
No — the vines stay planted and produce grapes again every year; only grape tokens are taken. Removing harvested vines is a common mistake.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
No — each field can be harvested only once per year, however you harvest it: board action, grande, Yoke or visitor card. You can harvest several times a year, but each harvest must be a different field. The only exception is a card that says so (the Grape Thief from Moor Visitors).
Yes — the once-per-year limit tracks fields, not vines, and nothing stops you uprooting from a harvested field. A vine replanted in a different, unharvested field can be harvested with that field.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022, and it matches the rulebook.
One — add up all the red values on the field into a single red grape and all the white values into a single white grape. Two 1-value whites give one 2-value white grape; you can't keep them separate.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
No — each field is harvested separately and produces its own grape tokens; you only combine vines within one field.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
The new grape drops to the next lower empty space of that color, so you can never hold two grapes of the same color and value. If every lower space is full — including when the 1 space is taken — that grape is lost, though you still keep the field's other grape.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019, and it matches the rulebook.
No — you can't take an action that wouldn't change anything, so if not a single grape could be placed, you can't harvest. If at least one grape fits you may harvest, and any that don't fit are lost.
There's no official marker. A common trick is to place a spare glass token on each planted field at the start of the year and remove it when that field is harvested.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021, and it matches the rulebook.
Neither — each red or white wine comes from exactly one grape of that color at its value. Only blush (1 red + 1 white) and sparkling (2 red + 1 white) combine grapes, and a grape can never be divided.
The rulebook's "Making Wine" section covers this directly.
No — they're made from grape tokens on your crush pad during a make-wine action (or a card that makes wine). Once wine tokens are in the cellar they can never be combined.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
No — the action counts wine tokens made, not grapes spent. A sparkling uses 3 grapes and a blush 2, but each is one of your 2 wines (3 on the bonus space).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
Its value is the total of the grapes used. Blush must total at least 4 and sparkling at least 7, so a 1 red + 1 white can't make blush. You also need the medium cellar for blush and the large cellar for sparkling (unless a card waives it).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Only when the matching space is unavailable — the new wine drops to the next open space you own below it, so a 4 red grape becomes a 3 red wine with only a small cellar, and a 7+7 blush becomes a 9 with a large cellar or a 6 with only a medium one. The designer ruled you can't simply pick a lower value when the higher space is open.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes — there's no waiting period; grapes can become wine whenever you make wine.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
The four types are red, white, blush and sparkling. Value isn't part of the type; cards that care about value show a number.
The rulebook's "Filling Wine Orders" section covers this directly.
A higher value is fine, combining is not — each wine icon on an order needs one token of that type at the shown value or higher. A 6-red needs a single red worth 6+, and one high wine can't cover two icons.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
It only adds: each filled order moves your marker up by the order's amount, it stays where it is from year to year (no reset after collecting), and it stops at 5 — it never wraps back to 1, so you collect at most ₤5 a year.
Yes, but only by choice — a few Essential Edition visitors, such as the Noble, let you lose residual payments for another benefit.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
As soon as any player reaches 20 VP (25 on the Tuscany extended board), the current year becomes the last. Everyone finishes that year normally, including all year-end steps, and the game ends even if scores fell back below the threshold. Highest score wins.
The rulebook's "Goal" section covers this directly.
No — it ends after the year in which someone reaches 20 VP. Games often run about 7 years, but that's typical, not a rule. (Only the solo Automa game has a fixed 7 years.)
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021, and it matches the rulebook.
Most lira wins a tie, then the total value of all wine in your cellar, then the total value of grapes on your crush pad. The same order applies with Tuscany. Lira scores no points otherwise; the designer made it the first tiebreaker so money matters and because it's quick to count.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026, and it matches the rulebook.
Every grape and wine token ages by 1 at once at year end, whenever it was added, and it's mandatory where possible. Grapes ignore cellars and can age up to 9; wine can't age into a cellar you haven't built and simply stays put if it can't move.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Yes — repeated aging of one token happens all at once, so you move it up to the allowed number of spaces into any legal empty space and may leapfrog an occupied one.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019, and it matches the rulebook.
The token passes counterclockwise at year end, while wake-up rows are chosen clockwise starting from the first player. The opposite directions keep the player who picked last from staying at a disadvantage.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2024.
Every card in your hand counts — vines, wine orders, summer and winter visitors (and Tuscany structure cards). Planted vines don't. The limit is only checked in the year-end discard step, so cards gained afterwards stay until the next year end.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
No — in base Viticulture everyone does year end together after all players have passed, so no spaces open up mid-winter. Individual year ends when you pass out of winter are a Tuscany extended-board rule only.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020, and it matches the rulebook.
None during play. Its VP marker starts on the End space (20 VP — older rulebooks call it "Win") and you must finish the 7th year ahead of it; a tie is a draw. Difficulty levels and the aggressive variant change the target, and on the Tuscany extended board it starts at 25 and adds its influence-map points at the end.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021, and it matches the rulebook.
All six of its color, including the grande, which it treats like any other worker. It isn't limited like a human: each season's card places 0–3 workers, and once its sixth worker is out it places no more that year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Once per season, before you. At the start of summer and again at the start of winter you draw one Automa card and place all of its workers for that season at once, whatever your wake-up row. It draws nothing in spring or fall. A separate card each season keeps you from knowing in summer what it will block in winter; reshuffle the deck if it runs out.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
Green and yellow lines are summer, red and blue are winter. Ignore only the actions marked T (Tuscany-only), not the whole card, and don't redraw if that leaves the Automa placing nothing that season.
No — one worker. Each line names a space that exists on only one board: the sell action on the base board, the trade action on the Tuscany board. Use whichever matches the board you're playing on.
No — they're ID numbers for reference and replacements. Shuffle all the cards together and ignore the numbers.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2023, and it matches the rulebook.
No — Automa workers only block spaces; they never take an action or a bonus. Visitor effects never touch the Automa either: resolve only the parts that concern you (the designer's intent for conditions like "if any player has 10 VP" is to ignore them).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025, and it matches the rulebook.
Only the leftmost (2-player) space of each action. If the Automa is on it, only your grande can take that action; a bonus action token never lets a regular worker in. Digital versions that allow otherwise are wrong.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020, and it matches the rulebook.
Each row can be chosen only once per game — you may only place your rooster on a row that still has a glass token, and you take that token. You also get the row's normal wake-up bonus, including the temporary worker on row 7. You choose your row before the year's first Automa card is drawn.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022, and it matches the rulebook.
When you place a worker you may discard one token to also gain that action's bonus — the bonus only, never the action again (a tour pays ₤2 + ₤1). The limit is one token per turn, and each worker placement is a turn, so saved tokens carry over between years and several can be spent in one year. The bonus can be taken before or after the action.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — a token can be spent on any worker placement, including a grande placed on an Automa-occupied action. (In multiplayer a grande on a full action never gets a bonus.) The designer's first reply in 2015 said no and was corrected the same day.
Not from one placement: if your worker's space already gave you that bonus (on some Tuscany leftmost spaces), a token can't take it again, though it can take a different bonus there. Across separate placements, yes — e.g. a worker plus a token, then your grande plus another token on the same action, gives the action and its bonus twice.
Yes — you may resolve the action first (e.g. look at the vine you drew) and then decide whether to spend a token for the bonus. Deciding beforehand is fine too.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026, and it matches the rulebook.
Only those that give you a benefit only if another player acts. Checking the print files in 2021, the designer listed the Swindler, Governor and Queen. That replaced a 2016 list that also included the Wedding Party. Cards like the Taster and Uncertified Teacher stay because part of them still works solo. You can also leave them in and redraw when one comes up.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020, and it matches the rulebook.
No — the regular workers come from the Mama card, so you start with only the Papa's grande (plus anything else the Papa gives). The 3 free vines replace the Mama. Jamey Stegmaier briefly suggested otherwise, then deferred to the Automa designers, who ruled you don't get them.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019, and it matches the rulebook.
The Automa uses the middle spaces too, so it still blocks you. No bonus action tokens are used at all in this challenge, including ones earned for losing (you may house-rule otherwise). A visitor made completely useless by the 2-worker limit can be discarded and redrawn.
Only to the board's harvest action — including your grande placed there — not to the Yoke or visitor harvests. Each field is still harvested once per year.
Challenge 3's six-workers-by-year-3 is only an extra way to lose; you still have to win normally. In challenge 6 you just don't score VP during play: you can still spend VP (down to -5) and fill orders for residual payments. With the aggressive variant, challenge 6 is dropped, making a 7-challenge campaign.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019, and it matches the rulebook.
Your score is the number of games it took to beat all the challenges — 8 is perfect. A tie with the Automa counts as a loss. The extra bonus tokens you get after a loss apply only to retrying that same challenge.
It was designed and balanced for the base game only. Most challenges still work on the Tuscany board, but challenge 2 doesn't work well there.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018, and it matches the rulebook.
Extra cards only place on the current season's spaces. If the Automa hits its sixth worker partway through a card, go top to bottom and skip the rest.
Yes — the modules are independent. The extended board works on its own (it's double-sided: one side for games with structures, one without), and the Essential Edition rules include an official variant for playing structure cards on the base board.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Reaching 25 VP (instead of 20) triggers the last year. Everyone finishes that year, including the year-end steps, and then influence-map points are added. Tiebreakers stay as in the base game: lira, then total wine value, then total grape value (the designer confirmed this in 2021, although the Tuscany rulebook mentions only lira).
You can't move on early — everyone finishes a season before the next begins, and players still in it keep taking turns, sometimes several in a row. Placing several workers in one season is fine; nothing limits workers per season. Each action can only be used in the season it's printed under, except colorless spaces like the any-season lira space and your Yoke.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Any number of workers can use it, in any season (it has no season color): each worker placed there gains ₤1 or one structure card. You still place only one worker per turn.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
There's no sell-grapes action — use the summer Trade action, which swaps one grape for ₤3 (or other goods) whatever its value. Fields are bought and sold with a separate flip-a-field action. The crush pad's sale prices only matter for visitors that refer to selling grapes.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025.
You may build a structure card on an empty field you own (not a sold one). While it stands there the field can't hold vines and can't be sold; you'd have to destroy the structure first.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
Yes — only the leftmost space of each action is used, and many of them carry a bonus on the extended board. Any worker placed on such a space gets it, including a grande placed there while it's empty. A grande that joins a full action gets none.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
As you pass into each season, not when you place your rooster in spring. You collect the bonus in the column for the season you're entering, every time you pass, even if you've run out of workers. So the row 7 temporary worker arrives when you pass into summer (it can't be used in spring) and is returned at year end.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Each player picks their new row when they pass out of winter, so whoever passes first picks first. You may choose any open row 2–7. Row 1 is reserved: the player who was on row 7 must take it next year, and nobody else ever can (the Organizer may move you there if it's empty).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
You immediately do all the year-end steps yourself, even in the final year: retrieve your workers, choose next year's wake-up row and so on, while others may still be playing winter. The spaces you vacate open up for them, bonuses included. A grande sitting beside a full action doesn't slide into them.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes — passed players still count as "all players" (the Motivator is the exception). Since your workers are already home, the new one joins them and is ready for next year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
When you pass from summer into fall. Building the Cottage during fall therefore pays off only from next year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
A later worker-placement season of the current year. On the Tuscany board fall follows summer; on the base board summer's next season is winter, and nothing follows winter.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
It's optional. It was added after 2-player groups found the map too strong; the designer himself prefers keeping influence scoring at 2 players.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Every time you place a star — even in a region where you or others already have stars — but never when you move one. You must place all 6 stars before you may move any.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
A region's VP go to the player with strictly the most stars there, compared against each opponent individually; you score it even if you're the only one present. If players tie for most, nobody scores it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
It lets you gain a region's bonus when you move a star into it, not only when you place one. It doesn't give you a free star or move; you still need the map actions.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
3 VP total — you lose 3 VP once if any player, including you, has 20 or more, regardless of how many qualify.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Only by training: whenever you train a worker, by any means (the board action or a card that trains), you may pay ₤1 extra to make it a special worker. Workers from Mama or Papa cards can't be special, and a worker trained as regular can't be upgraded later.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
One of each special worker type in play — several players can each train their own Chef, but you can't have two. They count toward the normal limit of 6 workers including the grande; only the temporary worker is extra.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
Both — its ability (if it triggers on placement) resolves first, then you take the space's action. Otherwise it's neither a regular nor a grande worker but its own kind; whether it can enter an occupied action depends on its ability.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
It depends on the wording. An effect that shows the plain worker icon ("any worker") can retrieve special workers, as the designer ruled in 2018. Anything that retrieves a regular worker can't — the designer ruled in 2026 that special workers aren't regular workers for this purpose.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
The Chef takes an occupied space by sending that worker back to its owner, and it gets the space's bonus. The bumped worker can be placed again this year unless its owner has already passed for the season. It can bump a Messenger waiting in a future season, and a Chef placed with the Planner keeps its ability. Bumping a Soldato still costs the Chef's owner ₤1.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
No, by the English card text: it may only bump an opponent's worker, and Chefs can't bump Chefs. The German card's "another worker" wording is a translation error.
Opponents pay you ₤1 for every worker they place on that action, grandes included. With several Soldatos there, a player pays ₤1 to each owner. Opponents may join even when every space is full, but like a grande they then sit beside the spaces and get no bonus.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025.
Place it on an open space like any worker, then take one bonus of your choice from any of that action's spaces — even one that's occupied or closed at your player count. It's one bonus in total, not one on top of its own space's bonus. In solo play you may also spend a bonus action token on the same bonus again, since the Farmer isn't standing on it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Any open action space in a previous season, regardless of how many spaces your player count normally allows — so at 2 players it can use middle or right spaces and gets their bonus. It needs a genuinely open space: it can't join a full action, even one where a Soldato would normally let players in.
It repeats any action space without a bonus, including private ones like your Yoke, and the second use can pick a different option within that action. Most structure-card spaces show a bonus, so it usually can't repeat them. It never lets you harvest the same field twice in a year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
No — the Politico only works on bonus spaces on the main board, and structure cards aren't on the board.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Only a regular worker (the temporary worker counts) from an action space on the main board in the current season — not your grande or special workers, and not from your vineyard mat or structure cards. The Professore itself can be placed anywhere a worker can go.
No — its ability only works when it's placed on the main board.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2019.
You may place it on any future season, not just the next, and placing it is your turn. When that season starts, you take its action first, without placing another worker. A Soldato there is paid when the Messenger is placed.
No — once per turn: on one action that draws twice, only one extra card. If it's bumped and placed again on a later turn, it triggers again.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — the grande you place with it must come from your available workers. In effect you take two turns in a row on the same action.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Yes — it's per structure, so with the Stonemason or Landlord each structure is ₤2 cheaper.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes, in every respect — visitors that build can build them, build discounts apply, and per-structure rewards count them (exact-cost rewards like the Architect's only count matching costs).
Only from your hand, paying the card's cost, with either build action (spring or fall), which can also build the wooden structures on your mat. A built card goes on one of the two structure spaces on your extension mat or an empty field you own.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
On your turn in any season (unless the card says otherwise), place a worker there and carry out its action; you then also get the bonus in the space, before or after the action. A grande can't use an already-occupied structure card — its full-action ability only works on the main board.
No to both — the destroy action only removes card-based (orange) structures, and you can't destroy one that has a worker on it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
You need a wine that can really age twice — that's the Cask's cost, so a wine blocked by your cellar or already at the top doesn't qualify. The two steps happen at once, so a 5 can move to 7 even if 6 is occupied. You can take the wine-order bonus first.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — the discard happens as you play the visitor, before it gives you anything, so you must already have the tokens. Both structures can trigger off the same visitor if you can pay each, and they trigger every time, not once a year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
You pay the Academy owner ₤1 extra however you train. If you can't pay both the training cost and the ₤1, you can't train (an action's lira bonus taken first can help).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2021.
Label Factory is a private action: place a worker, pay ₤3 and fill a wine order with your own wine to gain 2 VP on top of the order — paying doesn't replace the wine. Charmat is a lasting ability: your sparkling wine takes 1 red + 1 white grape instead of 2 red + 1 white.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Pay ₤8 once to build it. Each time you use its action, discard 1 wine and 1 grape token to gain ₤3 and 3 VP.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes — "make" always means the normal wine-making from crush-pad grapes; only "gain" or "get" hands you a token for free.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes — they trigger during the residual-payment step, giving an extra aging on top of the normal year-end aging. Neither has an action space. Effects with the residual icon happen in that step, following the year-end order printed on the Tuscany board.
Yes — whenever you pay lira for a structure after building the Workshop, take ₤1 off on top of other discounts. It doesn't discount the Workshop itself.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
Its top-left lira is the build cost and its VP is gained once when built. Afterwards one harvest can take all your fields, but each field still produces its own grape tokens — they're not combined.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Yes — each order you draw may be filled right away if you have the wine.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
Yes — the Studio works the moment it's built, so the second structure from the same card already scores.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Yes, in that order — resolve the Truss Harvester fully, then use the Fermentation Tank.
"Each type" includes structure cards, but the Peddler still gives four cards, so taking a structure card means one fewer of the other types.
They were accidentally left out of the first printing of the Tuscany EE rulebook. The Automa designer published supplementary rules that adapt the Viticulture EE Automa, including placing the Automa's stars at setup.
On the extended board the Automa starts at 25 VP and adds its influence-map points at game end; that total is what you must beat. Playing only the special workers module on the base board, use the base target of 20.
At setup it places 1 star on each 1-VP region and 2 on each 2-VP region. Those stars never move: its workers only block, so going to the influence action does nothing for it. It scores the map at game end like a player; don't use the 2-player no-map variant against it.
In 2023 the Automa designer said all five base-game difficulty levels work without the aggressive variant, and three with it. That replaced his 2018 remark that the base levels weren't designed for Tuscany EE. The solo campaign isn't balanced for Tuscany, and there's no Tuscany campaign.
One per season, so four a year, each placing only that season's workers before you act. The deck runs out before year 7; just reshuffle it for the last year.
No extra workers — it starts with all 6 of its color (grande included), never trains, and stops at 6 like anyone. On Hard, with four placement seasons, it can run out before winter.
Yes to both — a bonus printed on the space you take is yours without a token. A bonus action token can then take any one other bonus from that action (e.g. the middle space's), including one the Automa is sitting on, but never the same bonus twice from one placement.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
As in multiplayer, you move your rooster each season and collect each column's bonus, and row 1 is only available after row 7. Glass bonus tokens are taken only in spring, from a row that still has one, so each row is used once. The Organizer moves you without giving a token.
Bumping an Automa worker would just cancel its block: the Automa rarely runs out of workers, so a bumped one never comes back.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
There's no rulebook: replace both visitor decks with the Rhine Valley summer and winter decks and play normally. It works with the solo Automa too.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
No — Rhine Valley is a standalone replacement set with its own card backs; mixing it with other visitors can unbalance the game. Moor Visitors, by contrast, are meant to be added to the base decks.
Only four (two summer, two winter), marked Tuscany in the top-left corner. Without Tuscany, remove them or set them aside and redraw. Everything else works with the Essential Edition alone and is fully compatible with Tuscany.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
When you take your first winter action with a worker, you may also harvest its field for grapes worth up to 3 in total, in any combination (e.g. 1 red + 2 white). Passing isn't an action, so it doesn't trigger. You can resolve it before or after that first action. It's optional, and if you skip it the field can be harvested normally — but still only once a year. The card can sit on an empty field you plant later.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Harvest normally, lower each harvested grape by 1 before placing it, then gain 1 VP. A grape's value is the field's combined same-color total (2-white + 3-white vines give a 5 that becomes a 4). If a grape can't be lowered (already 1) you don't get the VP, and you can't skip the devaluing. Its plant option can be used to plant a single vine.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
No — you must be able to pay the full cost. If neither option is payable, you can't play the card. This applies to the Wine Lover, Advertiser, Writer, Sculptor and Duchess.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Each grape may be aged up to 3 times, so two grapes can each go up to 3 — not a shared total.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
After — fill the order first, then check your VP to see whether you get ₤4 instead of ₤2.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — Plant Reorganizer needs a vine to uproot, and Influencer and Old General need a star left to place (moving doesn't count). Influencer's up to 3 moved stars may then belong to any players, including you.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes — draw one card at a time in any mix of types, looking at each before choosing the next. Finish each part of a multi-part card before the next. A "discard any number" card like Vine Trader needs at least one discard.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Choose just one of the three. The 4-value blush needs a medium cellar, because the card doesn't waive cellar requirements.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Unless the card says "even if you don't have the cellar", the wine is placed at the highest value your cellar allows (a 4-value wine without a medium cellar becomes a 3). Cards that do waive the cellar, like the Premium Wine Dealer, place it at full value; it then ages normally within that cellar section, but your other wines still can't age into a cellar you haven't built.
Yes — as with harvesting and making wine, it goes to the next empty lower slot (never below 1).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Yes — lose either a placed or an available worker; it goes back to your untrained supply, and a placed one frees its action space. The card types you discard and draw needn't match.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
They stay. Planted vines can still be harvested, but you can't plant new vines needing the missing structure. Wine in a destroyed cellar stays and ages within it, but nothing ages into that cellar until you rebuild it. You can only destroy your own structures, and never a medium cellar while you have the large one.
Any wine type whose value is X, as set by the card's text — so it can only be blush or sparkling if X is high enough. A number inside the icon is a value, not a count of tokens.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
The increases total 2: one wine +2 or two wines +1 each. Increasing value works like aging, so reaching 7+ still needs the large cellar.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Option 1: discard a wine of value X to draw X wine orders (the printed icon is missing a "+"). Option 2: pay ₤X to gain one wine token of value X, which can be blush or sparkling if you own the cellar it needs.
Yes — the moved worker acts at the start of the chosen future season, separately from your normal turn, so you may effectively go twice in a row. The card is used once and discarded.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Pay either 2 VP or 3 cards, and in exchange choose either ₤6 or 3 wine order cards.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Planting through the Owner earns no second Windmill VP — the Windmill still pays once a year. But if you own the Windmill, including one you just built with the Owner, you get the card's 1 VP whichever options you choose.
The designer has ruled that a capitalized OR always fully separates two options, which settles this card.
No — the capitalized OR splits it into two complete options: pay ₤4 for 1 red and 1 white grape, OR fill 1 order and then gain ₤3 for free.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Yes, each one individually: a red 3 / white 3 order needs both wines at 5+. An order requiring an 8 can never qualify, since no 10 wine exists.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2019.
Its number on the crush pad (a grape on space 2 is worth 2), not its sale price. Visitor cards that sell grapes work even though the board may have no sell action.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
No — the designer's view is that it returns one of your permanent workers to the supply for 2 VP.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — options listed with "or" are a choice of one: the Shipper and Cicerone each give one of three options. The Agent draws 2 cards of one type, not one of each.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2026.
No — the Penthouse rewards making a wine of 7+, and gaining (buying) a wine isn't making one.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
No — the capital OR makes two separate choices: discard a 1-value grape or wine for 1 VP and +1 residual, OR lose 2 residual to draw 3 orders. (The Endorser, unlike it, uses one discard to pay for either reward.)
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
As many as you can pay ₤1 each for, from any players' map areas, plus the 3 VP loss if any player (you included) has 20+. Against the Automa you can return its stars, and doing so costs you the 3 VP as well as the lira.
Yes — the two grapes can be any colors but must still add up to 7 or more.
The extra is a separate 1-value grape token: harvesting a 2-red/4-white field gives a 1 red, a 2 red and a 4 white. In the second option, X is the value of the wine you discard.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
Yes — choose ₤3 or harvesting up to 2 fields, and with a Tasting Room you get ₤3 more whichever you chose.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
Yes — "any player" includes whoever plays the card.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
They're designed to be shuffled into the base decks, but you may also use them on their own as the visitor decks. (Rhine Valley, unlike Moor, replaces the decks entirely.) Moor's extra Cultivator is a different card from the base one, so keep both.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2019.
They replace misprinted versions from earlier printings. Ignore them if you already have the current versions; the Harvest Machine is a Tuscany structure card and is only usable with the structures module.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2020.
Yes — the capital OR makes the 5-grape condition apply only to the 2 VP option. It means five grape tokens, not a total value of 5.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Yes to both — it counts every wine in your cellar whatever its type, and you permanently move your residual marker one space per wine. The wines stay in your cellar.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
No — discard exactly 3 cards of any types, then draw 3 of any types (one at a time, choosing each deck after seeing the last card) and gain ₤2.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Pay ₤3 once, then either gain a 1-value wine or age one grape up to 3 times (the lowercase "or" ties both to the single payment). The three steps go on one grape, and other grapes only matter if they sit on the final space: then it moves +2, or +1.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Your row number — on row 7 you count 7 even in a 4-player game.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
X is the number of workers you could still train toward your maximum of 6, not every worker in the box. Training a special worker with it costs ₤1 more.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Keep them beside your vineyard mat, since they score at game end; they're out of the deck from then on.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2022.
Yes — reaching 20 during the year triggers the end and can't be undone. The penalty applies in final scoring; use the normal tiebreakers if that creates a tie.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Yes, it can — that's its exception to the once-per-year rule. A Fruit Dealer on that field still pays only its own player, and only when that player harvests the field.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
On an empty or planted field you own (not a sold one). A field with only a Fruit Dealer on it can be sold, discarding the Fruit Dealer. It pays at most once a year, since the field is harvested only once.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
No — take a new token from the supply. A number before the icon is how many; a number on the icon is one token of that value; a red/white icon lets you pick the color.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
No — the small symbol is a lira sign, not a minus. The Promoter raises your residual by 1 and gives 1 VP; the residual icon is a lira with circling arrows.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2023.
Only if you have three wines worth 2 or more — wine can't go below 1, and the card doesn't let you discard wine instead.
Workers from the main board in earlier seasons — not from your Yoke or structures — and its worker icon means any worker, grande included. They return to your available workers for the current and later seasons; played in winter, they can only be used in winter.
Yes — played in winter you pay ₤1 for a 4-value red or white grape; played as a summer visitor you discard a red or white grape from your crush pad for ₤4.
No — a field is harvested once a year by any means unless a card explicitly says otherwise (like the Grape Thief). The Yoke doesn't create a second harvest either.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
No — you fill one order either way; using your last worker adds 2 VP to it. Playing it through a Tuscany Official placed as your last worker still counts.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2022.
No — when played for its effect it's passed to the player on your left instead of being discarded, so it keeps circulating.
Stonemaier Games staff answered this directly on BGG in 2021.
No — the OR splits two options; the VP comes only with planting a vine that needs Irrigation.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
X is the number of fields you harvest with it: harvest 3 fields and you may age 3 grapes by 1 each.
You pick X — whatever you can and want to pay — and apply that same X to the rest of the card.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
The updated Tuscany-era rules: no seventh worker; morale drops when you place your grande (not at year end), and the -1 VP is taken only when morale drops onto the lowest space. Grapes can be gifted for morale, and the grande can't use the Leisure space or gain a bonus on a normal space. The cardboard hearts on the visitor spaces are no longer used.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Vines and an arbor can share a field (one arbor per field). The Arboriculture "structures" aren't bought; they're private action spaces, each usable once a year. Apples count as raw goods like grapes, tomatoes and olives.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
So you can't use it to dodge the morale loss that playing the grande causes. Elsewhere the grande goes wherever a regular worker can, but its full-action ability only works on the main board.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2017.
Gifts of grapes, wine and goods are made at year end when you retrieve workers. You gain the bonus every time you move up onto that level, so dropping and climbing back scores again.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2014.
Yes — arbors count as vines for planting bonuses like the Windmill and wherever a visitor shows a vine icon.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2014.
Six in total — regular, special and grande combined — in every version of Viticulture and Tuscany.
Mainly morale: at year end you may discard apples to raise morale one level each.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Yes to both — they work against the Automa, though they make it a bit easier for you, and nothing stops combining the two.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
Its ability lets you place workers you haven't placed yet this season, onto open spaces in the current season, under normal rules. Once removed it's gone for good — it can't be trained again — and it no longer counts toward your worker limit, so you may train another worker (not another Martyr) in its place. If its space has a bonus, you still get it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2018.
All regular workers on other actions this season — yours and opponents' — move to the Storyteller's action as a whole, not onto its spaces, and they don't take the action. The spaces they left become free.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
Either — any time during that turn, so you can convert a just-harvested grape or convert first and then make wine with it.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2016.
You gain the bonuses but not the action itself, reading each "+1" as doing one of that thing (e.g. harvest 1 field).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Bordeaux expands base Viticulture and was tested with Tuscany's structure cards and special workers, Moor Visitors and Rhine Valley, though the designer suggests a first game without other expansions. It replaces the Tuscany board and its influence map. The old Arboriculture, Formaggio and Mafia modules weren't tested and aren't officially supported. The board's back is the original Viticulture board with one optional change: 2 vines and 2 wine orders kept face up to draw from.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
Anything that relies on Tuscany's influence map: the Banquet Hall, Gazebo, Shop, Trading Post and Wine Press structures, and the Old General, Influencer and Lobbyist visitors. Remove them, or discard and redraw them when drawn.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
You start with only the 6-value field; the 5 and 7 fields begin sold-side up, and players start with ₤3 and 1 residual payment instead. The Bordeaux board has a buy-a-field action (paying the cost printed on the card) but no way to sell a field.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
No — only the actions on the Bordeaux board and your vineyard mat's private action exist. You can trade grapes at the trade market, and leftover grapes become lira at game end.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
When paying, any grape (or wine) value is fine — the 1 printed on the pay side shouldn't be there — but on the gain side you get a 1-value token. A grey card icon means any card, and card trades always involve two cards. Only the expert can clear market spaces, and the market doesn't scale with player count; substitute markers if you run short.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
You choose next year's row as you pass out of winter, so earlier passers pick first. Row 1 can't be chosen: you get it only, and must take it, the year after being on row 7. Rewards on row 1 that say "all players" go to everyone, including the row-1 player, and trigger as soon as a player passes into the next season.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
They're mandatory — otherwise a player could skip benefits meant for all players; only effects worded "may" are optional. You take your row's benefit whenever you pass into a season, however many workers you have left. The "age all" benefit ages your wines once more, on top of the normal year-end aging.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
No — it shows a regular worker, so only a regular worker placed in fall can be taken back.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
No — there's no fall visitor draw. Passing into fall gives the benefit on your wake-up row instead, and a built Cottage still gives its visitor card on top.
Hire an expert by putting your cube on any unclaimed expert space on the central board. From then on, each time you take that action you also get the expert's benefit, in any order with the action and its bonus; benefits apply even on the turn you hire. A benefit applies once per turn, not twice for a doubled action, unless the expert says otherwise.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
When you hire an expert, you gain one uncovered bonus printed on the action you just placed that expert on — any exposed bonus there, even on spaces unused at your player count. It doesn't let you take that action itself, so that action's own expert benefit doesn't trigger.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
It upgrades benefits, not costs: pay one cost once and get every benefit — all three Subsidizer options, both halves of the Writer, or the Embezzler's ₤6 and 3 orders for one payment. A card that says "choose N" still limits you to N. You pick the order of the effects. The benefit is meant for the non-bonus visitor spaces, but playing only one visitor on the bonus space also qualifies.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
No — experts trigger only when you actually take the action they sit on.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Your worker goes only on Take Any Action, and you perform any one action from any season, winter included, once. The chosen space doesn't need to be free, you don't get its bonus, but you may use your expert's benefit for that action.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
No — it only lets you merge any number of same-color grapes into one red or white wine. Blush stays 1 red + 1 white and sparkling 2 red + 1 white. Using that merge at least once in the action gives 1 VP, once per action; normal sparkling doesn't.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes — nothing restricts the type, so discarding X cards can give a value-X blush or sparkling (you still need the right cellar). The designer finds it strong but intended; limiting it to red or white is only an optional house rule.
Their VP comes once per action, and you may take it at any point in the action, so count after both plantings or builds (e.g. building two structures to go from 2 to 4 still scores). Building twice with one worker scores once; another action scores again. The build expert gives 1 VP per action at 4–6 structures, then 2 VP at 7, keeping earlier VP. The plant expert lets you ignore one chosen structure requirement on every vine planted that turn.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes — the expert gives you an extra Fill Order space you can place on like any open space, with no other worker needed there first. Its bonus raises your residual by 1, but you must actually fill an order.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes — sparkling normally sells for 4 VP and the expert adds 2 for a wine from the large cellar.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
It raises your residual level (a silver icon raises it 2); income is only collected at year end. The track caps at 7. It can drop (some visitors cost residual, even to 0) and climb again. The VP markers on it are kept if you drop and scored again each time you cross them.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
The game ends after the year someone reaches 25 VP. Each wine converts to lira equal to its value (any type), each grape at its crush-pad sale price (₤1/₤2/₤3), added to your leftover lira, and every ₤10 becomes 1 VP. Ties use the usual tiebreakers — check them before removing the tokens. Year-end steps still happen in the final year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Make one extra wine token — up to 3 on that space.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
No — in Bordeaux it only gives ₤1. Taking a structure card there would be a house rule.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes to both — an abundance of cards is intended, and drafted structure cards in hand count toward the year-end limit like any card.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes, that combo is legal — the Traveler ignores player count. You can only hire the Traveler once, so it works once.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
At the end of year 6: collect residual income, do the normal grape/wine-to-lira and ₤10-to-1 VP conversion, then compare with the Automa.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
It moves your rooster to an unclaimed row, so you gain that row's benefit — the card says which season's — and benefits for all players apply to everyone.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
It ages a single grape or wine unless it says "all", and it can't leapfrog a higher token of the same color into an occupied space — age the higher one instead. You may take an "age one grape" bonus between harvesting two fields.
Tuscany's structure cards, Moor Visitors and Visit from the Rhine Valley. Tuscany's special workers, Arboriculture, Formaggio and the Euphoria crossover structures aren't supported — the designers found special workers clashed with seasonal workers. World has no visitors of its own; use the base decks, Moor mixed in, or Rhine Valley instead (which makes it harder).
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes — they permanently replace the listed white-bordered cards, and in any non-World game they play normally. The black border only marks cards to discard and redraw during Viticulture World, such as visitors that train a worker you may use this year. Only add replacements for expansions you own.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Deal a red and a blue card as usual (they're mechanically the same as Mamas and Papas). Ignore any workers they show, since everyone starts with 4 hatted workers and 1 grande; everything else, like lira and cards, applies. There's no starting Pinot — that was a first-edition rule.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
No simultaneous turns — players still go in order (you can discuss freely), and everyone finishes a season before the next. After placing your last worker you pass on your next turn. When you pass in winter, all your workers come off at once, including any on event cards, freeing those spaces for others that year.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
No — on event cards the grande is just a regular worker; its full-action ability only works on the main board. That's printed on the Greengully rules card rather than in the rulebook. A grande placed first on an open board space blocks it as usual.
No — they apply once, when you cover that space with an oval innovation tile. The board gives trained workers no bonuses by itself; only placed innovation tiles do, and only for trained workers. You may put several of your own workers on an oval tile, but the extras get no bonus.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
A seasonal worker can be placed anywhere — board, mat, structure or continent card — but only in its own season. A summer worker left over when you pass summer can't be used in winter, even on the Yoke, unless you train it in winter, which makes it usable that winter.
He places all his workers at the start of each season, only where possible; they only block and trigger nothing. You decide when he spends money: ₤2 per worker to remove (no limit), ₤4 for his share of an event at any time in that year, and his H/P actions once per season. He never gains anything from your cards; meet event conditions yourself, then pay for him.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2026.
Yes — besides adding the 7th-year card (where you set out new innovation tiles as usual), a player can start with 5 VP. You may also look at a continent's upgrade and overlay cards before earning them.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
Unless the card says "at year end", you gain its benefit as soon as the requirement is met; some have all-year conditions marked with the event marker. Shown contributions are a combined group goal. Discards an event demands are made at year end, before the checklist.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
Your fellow players. Visitors that benefit other players when played were deliberately kept in, since they suit co-op play.
Yes — both gains can be the same, and you can even pay a resource and gain that resource back. It can also buy a 1-value grape or swap two cards for two cards.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Yes — plant the first normally, then the second on any field ignoring its maximum. You can do this every time you use tile C, but not when planting any other way.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2024.
Aging twice lets it leapfrog occupied spaces, so a new 4 can go straight to 6 if you own that cellar. But the wine must be legal when made — there's no 5 sparkling to age into a 7.
Each wine, but each still needs a token of the right type worth at least 1 — two 3-value reds can be met with two 1-value reds.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Once per year, a wine order filled there gives every player 1 VP, the filler included. You must actually fill an order to place there.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2023.
E counts Tuscany structure cards for its lira. With F, a bought grape goes on the lowest space of the row you paid for, devaluing if taken. L needs a seasonal worker to upgrade before you can buy its VP. O sells a wine for lira equal to its value plus 4 VP. P buys 1 influence for ₤8 per use.
Several experienced players agree on this; there is no official ruling.
An arrow gives you the bonus of the tile it points at, directly above, below, left or right. Arrows work across seasons but don't wrap around the board.
You still need the cellar: the wine drops to the highest value you can store.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2025.
No — they're different things, so filling an order doesn't meet a "sell wine" requirement. A wine-of-value-7+ requirement needs one token of 7–9, not two combined.
Card 5 only grants the reward, so no cost — and it was meant to include a trade (corrected in the Greengully promo deck; you may use it anyway). Card 6 has you take the action, so you pay its cost.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2023.
Yes — three of them lost the icon in the files; treat them as showing 1 VP like every other structure card.
Asia's overlay event cards stay for the rest of the game. Upgrade cards don't go on event spaces: set them aside until told, and upgrade 1 covers one rectangle and one oval upgrade space as setup describes. Asia's residual-doubling upgrade doubles VP residuals too, like the Statue's.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
Yes — add it to your available workers right away; it's a hatless trained worker for the rest of the game.
Yes, claim it on your turn before you pass. "Available" is a leftover wording: all of your workers must be trained.
Only a single forum reply addresses this; there is no official ruling.
Six, one per year — cards 1–6 in order for your first game on that continent, then any six at random.
Use the World board side with the orange-card spot and follow the Tuscany setup; skip the opening structure-card draft, which is only for the base board. Action D is the build action.
The designer ruled on this directly on BGG in 2022.
No — you get one 1-value grape of a color shown on the vine, the first time you plant each year.