THE CROP HAS BEEN CONFIRMED
The 2020 Preliminary Winegrape Crush Report released a few days ago shows a California statewide wine grape crop of 3.404 million tons. This is the lightest California wine crop since 2011, down 13% or about 88 million gallons from 2019. The 2019 crop was about 9% less than the 2018 crop. The reduction of the 2020 crop was due to mainly lower yields per acre in most
areas and the exposure of smoke taint in the Coastal areas.
There is no question that the reduction in crop yield has not only put the current bulk wine market in a strong and tight position, but it also is creating an unprecedented demand for the 2021 crop from the interior of Northern California. For the last few months, wineries, especially in the Lodi area, have been actively solicitating renewal of grape contracts, solicitated new contracts and even issuing planting contracts. Prices have already increased a minimum of $100/ton for Cabernets and Merlot from last year and this is before the Winegrape Crush Report came out and any prospect of the 2021 crop can be assessed!!! Imagine if we have a light crop in 2021.
CONTINUING ANOMALY
This price rise and unprecedented demand for Lodi grapes is a continuation of the Lodi anomaly that we spoke about in our last Newsletter. Lodi grapes are in big demand for their unequaled quality-price ratio. That anomaly is reinforced this year by the final FTC approval of the revised Gallo-Constellation blockbuster wine deal. Last year there was confusion as to what winery would do what. This year everything will be formalized.
Because of this anomaly, a vineyard that we have always been sourcing our Tempranillo (from its very first crop) is being actively soliciting the crop for the 2021 season. Out of respect, the growers want to protect our relationship. We are asking everyone who has purchased Tempranillo in the past or has interest for this year please contact us ASAP. We want to reserve some for this year from this outstanding vineyard and we will give you the details.
Activity in other locations is far from robust and probably exemplified with a concept of let us wait and see. As with many wineries across the Country the coronavirus pandemic response led to months long stretches of closure of key sales channels in tasting rooms and restaurants. Even before the pandemic the North Coast wine business had been facing slowing sales growth and increasing competition from other premium adult beverages.
WE HAD AN IDEA, BUT IT WAS STILL A SURPRISE
Going into the 2020 season, like for everybody else, there were a lot of question marks. As it turned out, people kept ordering grapes and we had one of the most successful seasons ever. Box shipments increased for home winemakers by over 6,000 lugs and winery shipments actually increased by 10%. This says a lot about our customers. A lot of retail distributors of boxed fruit were not able to operate because of the Covid restrictions but all of ours flourished. A lot of wineries that we dealt with had commercial outlets for their wine and with the increase in wine sales in the commercial outlets, their sales flourished, and they ordered accordingly. Thank you to all our customers.
Also, there are a lot of wineries who have ordered grapes every year but because they could not open their tasting room or could not market their wines at all had to pass. This situation should improve as the vaccine becomes more available and we are looking forward to doing business again.
NEW SOURCE FOR ITALIAN VARIETIES
We have located a new great source for Italian Varieties in the foothills. Dolcetto, Montepulciano, Aglianico, Sangiovese, Nero D’Avalo are just some of the varieties that are in this vineyard. Last year we sourced Sangiovese from four different ranches. Please contact us early as possible for some of these high-demand varieties.
P.S. - Please contact us ASAP if you are interested in purchasing bulk quantities of high-demand varieties like Tempranillo, Dolcetto, Montepulciano, Aglianico and Sangiovese.
