It has been less than a week since we loaded out our last shipment. It has taken a few days for us to initially assess the very exhausting, frustrating, but yet rewarding season. We had alerted all our customers that patience, patience, and more patience was going to be the prevailing criteria for the 2023 season. We never could have realized the total truth of that statement.
TIMING OUT THE WINDOW
We all knew that it was going to be a later than normal season. The starting harvest for almost everybody was initially two weeks later and in some instances three weeks later than normal. One assumed that maturity would progress accordingly. Not true!! Most varieties, both white and black got stuck at anywhere between 19 to 21 sugar and would not move any higher. The generally cool weather, especially at night, and good fruit set probably explains some of this slow maturity process, but it still doesn't explain why a lot of grapes NEVER ever reached proper sugar levels of 24+. This was all over California. We were in Paso Robles last weekend and they were still waiting for some grapes to reach proper maturity.
A REWARDING SEASON
During the end of the 2022 and throughout the 2023 season, there had been a dramatic drop in case good sales out of California. This development reflected with a lot of wineries not renewing any grape contracts and leaving a lot of growers with no home. It has been rewarding for us to find homes for almost all of our past growers. It also has been rewarding for us to supply our distributors and wineries with mature grapes. Distributors have often thanked us for their grapes compared to what their competition was trying to sell. We have seen some of our competitors grapes picked with less than 19 sugar. With the later harvest for our winery customers and a lot of home-made wine clubs throughout the country constantly expressed their appreciation for the quality of the grapes they received even to this day. Much appreciated.
WHERE WAS MATT NOWAK?
As you know we brought Matt Nowak on board this year to assure that there will be a future for the company and help replace Alison’s position within the organization. His primary task was to become familiar with our customers with communications and coordination. This did not occur. Maturity considerations dictated that he worked mainly with our field crews and growers. If not for his assets with locating some new growers who had respectably mature fruit and his close relationship with our other associate Kevin Pitto, we would not have had sufficient volume to supply a lot of our distributors in September. Experience gathered this year will be indispensable for the future.
