Wine Grape Harvest Declines
The California wine grape harvest declined in 2004 for the second year in a row, aiding an industry that has been plagued by a surplus of fruit and low prices.
As a result of tighter supplies, grape prices are now rising, the California Agricultural Statistic Service reported Thursday in its annual Grape Crush Report.
“The ocean of excess is gone, though there are still a few swampy areas and puddles here and there,” said Bill Turrentine, president of Novato, Calif.-based Turrentine Brokerage, a bulk wine and grape dealer.
The smaller wine grape harvest was largely because of the removal of 100,000 acres of vines in the Central Valley and temperature spikes at critical junctures of the growing season, said Nat DiBuduo, president of Fresno-based Allied Grape Growers, the state’s largest grape growing cooperative.
The statewide average price for red wine grapes rose 3% to $626.18 a ton, according to the state report. Prices for white wine grapes jumped 13% to $486.94.
Red wine grape production was unchanged at a little more than 1.64 million tons. The supply of white grapes, however, fell 7% to 1.14 million tons, the state agency said. It was the smallest white wine crush since 1996.
All told, vintners crushed just under 2.8 million tons of wine grapes in 2004, 3% less than in 2003.
The vine removals have contributed to strong price gains in the San Joaquin Valley, DiBuduo said.
Fresno County French Colombard, a staple of inexpensive white wine, sold for an average $198.68 a ton in 2004, up 57% from $126.69 a year earlier, according to the state report. Merlot grapes from the Merced area sold for an average $405.56 a ton, up 29% from $314.56 in 2003.
Pricing in other regions also is starting to firm, though there still is a surplus of Cabernet Sauvignon on the Central Coast, one of the “puddles” Turrentine referred to.
“We had more people asking to buy Merlot than we had grapes for,” said Dana Merrill, president of Templeton-based Mesa Vineyard Management Inc., which manages 5,500 acres of vineyards in the Paso Robles area.
There was also strong demand for Chardonnay and even white Zinfandel grapes this past harvest, he said.
Napa County grapes received the highest average price, garnering $2,942.53 a ton. But that was down 3% from the prior year. DiBuduo said the decline was probably a result of the expiration of some long-term contracts between Napa growers and wineries and the vintners replacing those grapes with purchases made on the less expensive spot market.
Overall, the state crushed 3.6 million tons of grapes, up 7% from a year earlier. Much of the increase came from concentrate makers crushing Thompson seedless and other table and raisin grape varieties for juice and food processing.
