HAPPY THANKSGIVING
We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! It is always a pleasant task to write a newsletter this time of year. This year is no exception. Even though there has been turmoil in the grape industry here in California and our dollar sales fell 3 percent, our volume of shipped product actually increased. This divergent result reflects the reduction in most prices for grapes in the 2019 season and also happily the increase of demand from most of our customers, both in distributors and winery customers. With the lower price of grapes, wineries increased their purchases and we successfully added new distributors in Vancouver, B.C. and Texas. A list of our current distributors can be found HERE. Thanks to everyone for your support.
NEW GROWERS & VARIETIES
This year we increased our list of sources, varieties and locations for 2019 harvest.
The last few years we have specifically shipped Olmo Clone 4 Chardonnay very successfully. The initial vineyard was no longer available to ship during the 2019 season. We looked for this specific Chardonnay clone and found another reliable source for this wonderful Chardonnay clone.
We have secured new sources for Sangiovese. One of these sources is a winery who raises Sangiovese in Amador County and has won gold medals with their Sangiovese wine. We have also bought some clone 2 Sangiovese that is located in the Clements foothills. Good Sangiovese is one varietal that still has relativity strong demand.
We also shipped some Teroldego for the first time. Teroldego is a dark skinned variety which produces pigmented wines with an intensely fruity character. It is grown almost nowhere in the world outside the Trentino-Alto Adige area in Northern Italy. We found a small planting here in California and are interested on hearing about the resulting wine.
This year we actually found an old vine (head-pruned) Petit Sirah vineyard located in the Victor area, east of Lodi that had outstanding taste and flavor. Initial response has been very promising. We hope to maintain our relationship with this grower in the future.
Last year we picked 3 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Wolfskill Vineyard located in Suisun Valley. This year we nearly shipped 20 tons. This vineyard is located on a hillside within 200 yards of Napa County. Excellent reports are starting to come in about the wine this vineyard has produced
.
PATIENCE PAYS OFF
Most varieties matured later than the last several years. The cool wet spring, coupled with a mild summer, made for a later maturing crop. Most varieties also had heavier than average crops especially Zinfandels and Merlot. Luckily we had anticipated the later maturity and some growers limited their irrigation programs. This also caused some smaller berry size and a little weakness in bunch firmness but it meant that early grape buyers had grapes with great flavor and good chemistry both in sugar and PH.
As the season developed, Mother Nature cooperated nicely but not perfectly. We did have to quit picking several times and in some vineyards we returned many times to get the maturity we wanted. To insure proper maturity we also had taken samples from almost every vineyard and variety before we picked. In almost all instances we were gratified with the development of sugar. PHs remained in the 3.6 range. We will continue this program in the future.
WEAK MARKET
We anticipate the price of grapes in California to be weak within the foreseeable future. It has reached a point, however, that the cost of shipping hand harvested grapes, properly cooled and packaged, to be the major factor in the FOB pricing of the grapes. The actual cost of the grapes is currently about 30% to 40% of that pricing. With that in mind, we see pricing generally to be similar to this year with maybe a slight decrease. Grapes from higher end areas may see a greater price reduction.
