A good news newsletter:
An article in Drizly 2022 Consumer Trend Report BY KIRK MILLER
According to the latest drinks survey conducted during April 2022 from Drizly, the youngest legal-age drinkers are gravitating toward a parental staple: Red wine.
“The nation’s youngest legal drinkers cited red wine as the drink they most anticipate buying more of this year, topping a list that included tequila and hard seltzer,” as the report notes. When asked what drink they plan to buy more of this year, Gen Z respondents put red wine (38%) on top, over tequila, vodka, hard seltzer, rosé and RTDs.
TIMING LOOKS GOOD
Normally we wait until after the Fourth of July to take our second assessment of the crop. If we see a hint of veraison in early Zinfandels, we know that grape development is normal. Surprisingly this year we saw a little veraison on our home vines on June 26. We also heard that there may be a significant shatter in a lot of varieties. Anxiety took control and we proceeded to our own review.
There was some ever slightly veraison in our early Old Vine Zinfandels. That is great. We did see some shatter in the Zinfandels but that is normal for the variety. What did surprise us, was the shatter in some Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards. With the bunch count being so high in May, we thought it may be a bumper crop especially for Cabernet Sauvignon. With the shatter showing up and possibly smaller berry size, we just have a nice crop of grapes in all varieties.
Slight veraison in Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi - July 2022
PRICES SLIGHTLY HIGHER
There has not been much activity from the big wineries. Slightly higher prices that were in effect early in the year stayed the same. Those higher prices reflected close to the 2021 final prices that wineries paid as bonuses over the original contracts for that year. However, there are a lot of smaller wineries eagerly looking for specialty varieties that they lost due to frost. This is especially true for Amador wineries. We have also seen Napa wineries a lot more active in our area then they have been the last few years. Still to be assessed will be labor and material costs.
THE BEST NEWS YET
In the beginning of the year freight rates rose almost 100% over the rates from the previous year. That development sent chills through the refrigeration transportation industry. Checking with freight brokers last week PRICES ARE NOW SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN THE RATES IN 2021. This goes for all parts of the Country. I don’t understand it but one broker said it could change in an instant. Let’s hope that prices will drop even lower.
