In my recent post ” Wine Sales experiencing a Presidential Push?” Click here! I introduced information on increased retail wine sales volumes from Lewis Perdue – a highly regarded wine industry expert and author of the “Wine Industry Insight” blog. Lew’s a talented guy and prolific book author by the way.
Lew just reported on the significantly DOWN Cabernet Sauvignon Crush report from 2008 (minus 23.6% in tonnage!). Cabernet Sauvignon is one of our estate varietals and a favorite wine making grape here at Eagles Nest.
Why should you, the casual or maybe passionate wine lover even care about this??? Well it points to future supply availability and pricing for vintages and varietals you may love.
…the bottom line of last fall’s crush — less wine is in the tanks and barrels of wineries.
You’ve read my posts about concern about weather and our efforts to tune our vine pruning techniques to weather and growing conditions (frost freeze can kill fruiting buds, rainfall (or not), warm Santa Ana Winds and their impact on temperatures and winds impact of pollination of berry cluster florets, etc. ).
What happens (or not) in the vineyard impacts what happens in the winery and in the market place impacting your beloved bottle of wine. It’s all a huge interconnected system – OK now’s a good time to lob in theories and projections on Global warming and changing climate patterns – Does your head hurt yet? – and you don’t even have a hangover?!?!.
Below is good article from today’s Napa County Register that explains the impact weather had on their 2008 yields.
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Prices up, grape crop down A state report released Tuesday showed a decline in grape crop tonnage in Napa Valley last year. Prices for premium winegrapes were up.
A worker carries cabernet sauvignon grapes to a tractor at Truchard Vineyards in 2008.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
By L. PIERCE CARSON, Register Staff Writer
Despite an across-the-board hike in prices paid to growers, a 21 percent drop in tonnage caused a double-digit decline in the value of Napa Valley’s prized grape crop in 2008.
Last fall’s crush is valued at $387 million, down 18 percent from the previous year, according to the Preliminary 2008 Grape Crush Report released Tuesday by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Area vintners and grapegrowers are blaming Mother Nature for the dip in harvest heft. The crop weighed in at 114,280 tons, continuing a steady decline from 2005 when the harvest totaled 180,800 tons, the largest in Napa County history.
Last fall’s crush was the smallest since 1999 when tonnage registered 104,000 tons, and was the third consecutive short crop.
The official state overview showed last year’s spring frosts were more devastating than initially thought, “particularly in the outlying sub-appellation valleys and the Carneros region,” noted industry analyst George Schofield.
“Where frost hit parts of a vineyard, the damage was devastating. Besides frost, small berry size and light bunches were also reported as cause of the decline in yields.”
The fact that the valley’s grape tonnage was lower once again “will help us during the recession,” maintained Vic Motto, CEO of the wine investment bank, Global Wine Partners.
“It’s incredible to see that the (average) price for cabernet (sauvignon) is up 10 percent, and up 5 percent for chardonnay,” he continued. “That’s bullish for the future.”
In addition, Motto noted, “We don’t have any industry factors working against us like we did (in previous economic downturns), such as a grape glut or pest problems. In fact, we’re short on grapes.
“Sales have softened a bit … as people are trading down in value. But it’s a positive sign for the industry when the recession is taking the edge off sales. This is a favorable report for Napa Valley and the California wine industry overall.”
With a different take, Schofield points to the bottom line of last fall’s crush — “less wine is in the tanks and barrels of wineries.
“Less crop revenue dollars will also be in the hands of growers and circulating in the local community. None of this is good news for the hopes and efforts to stabilize the economy.”
Grape production falls
Though grape prices averaged a 4 percent increase last year, huge drops in harvest yields lowered overall crop value.
Cabernet sauvignon production fell some 27 percent to 42,759 tons. Schofield noted that a “10 percent rise in (average) cabernet sauvignon prices to a record $4,728 per ton” compensated “somewhat” for the lighter harvest.
The merlot crop weighed in at 14,723 tons, a 35 percent reduction in tonnage last harvest. The shift reflects the removal of some acreage, added Schofield, “especially grafting of vines to other varieties. The 1 percent increase in average merlot prices, however, may indicate some balancing of the supply/demand equation for merlot and a disappearance of grape and bulk wine surpluses.
“Surprisingly, the early-maturing Burgundy varieties of chardonnay and pinot noir suffered less dramatically, declining 7 and 11 percent respectively in production (to 22,576 tons and 7,774 tons). Average chardonnay grape prices gained 5 percent to $2,400 per ton. Reflecting a chronic shortage, average pinot noir prices increased 7 percent to $2,588 per ton.”
Of the major grape varieties planted here, sauvignon blanc tonnage was the only one that registered a slight increase of 2.5 percent, up to 10,124 tons. Average price paid last year for a ton of sauvignon blanc grapes was $1,908.
Additional tonnage and prices for other Napa Valley grapes in 2008 include: pinot gris (758 tons, $2,113), semillon (598 tons, $2,825), viognier (252 tons, $2,786), riesling (542 tons, $2,560), cabernet franc (2,636 tons, $4,453), malbec (748 tons, $4,419), petit verdot (1,304 tons, $5,628), petite sirah (1,879 tons, $3,132), syrah (2,342 tons, $3,147) and zinfandel (3,000 tons, $2,806).
The highest average price paid for a ton of grapes last year was for the Rhone varietal rousanne — $6,000. But only 38.5 tons of ripe rousanne were harvested in Napa County last year.
Sonoma and statewide
Crop size in neighboring Sonoma County dropped by 15.3 percent to a total of 168,204 tons. Value declined by 9 percent to $376 million, the state report indicates.
Average prices for Sonoma County grapes were up by 7.4 percent, with the average paid for a ton of chardonnay at $2,016, and $2,311 for a ton of cabernet sauvignon. The Sonoma chardonnay crop, while dropping close to 5 percent, remains more than twice as large as that of Napa, coming in at 53,456 tons.
Sonoma County’s cabernet sauvignon crop, down 24 percent last year, weighed in at 31,653 tons, about one-fourth less than that of Napa. The average price paid for a ton of Sonoma chardonnay is 16 percent less than that for Napa Valley chardonnay, while the difference for cabernet is significant — Sonoma fruit commanding slightly less than half the price of Napa cab.
Statewide, the 2008 harvest saw a total of 3,665,375 tons harvested, including raisins and table grapes, down less than 1 percent from 2007’s figure of 3,674,453 tons.
In 2008, chardonnay accounted for the largest percentage of harvest volume at 15.4 percent. Coming in second were Thompson seedless with 11.9 percent of the total.
Growers of wine, raisin and table grapes throughout California received prices that were, on average, above those paid in 2007.
Grapes grown in Napa County received the highest average price of $3,391 per ton last year, up 4 percent from 2007. Sonoma County growers received the second highest return of $2,235 per ton, an increase of 7 percent from the previous harvest.
