The Vineyard to Market Workshop Series launches this spring as a three-part program designed to support Lake County growers in navigating today’s market landscape. Each session will focus on a critical piece of the grower-to-buyer relationship, from understanding winery expectations to refining how vineyards are positioned and communicated, to gaining clarity around contracts and negotiations. Workshop 1 | April 29, 2026, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Buyer Perspectives: What Wineries Are Looking for From Growers An inside look at how wineries evaluate vineyard partners, including current market conditions, quality expectations, and key factors influencing purchasing decisions. Speakers:  Ben Byczynski, Director of Vineyard Operations, Draxton Wines Ryan Decker, Owner, DeckerVIT Workshop 2 | May 20, 2026, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Vineyard Branding & Messaging: Communicating the Value of Your Vineyard A practical session focused on how to clearly position and communicate vineyard value. To

March 13, 2026 (Novato, CA) — Following the release of the Preliminary 2025 California Grape Crush Report, Turrentine Brokerage, the largest California grape and bulk wine brokerage company, has issued a market assessment characterizing the 2025 vintage as one of the most challenging for the wine industry since Prohibition. According to the new state data, the total tons crushed came in at 2.62 million tons, a figure that is above initial projections and well above what was felt by the industry. This statewide volume is 8% below 2024 and 23% below the 5-year average. Total red wine production declined by 9% and white wine production declined by 6%. “The decrease in tons is still very positive news for the industry overall,” said Steve Fredricks, President at Turrentine Brokerage. “The 2025 vintage highlights the industry’s directional shift of declining production and an overall restructure of the industry. 2025 represented continued challenges for grower

You’re invited to the Lake County Winegrowers 2025 Grower Conversation Series, an opportunity for buyers, growers, and industry professionals to engage in discussions about the evolving wine market. Each session will feature brief, informal presentations from guest speakers, followed by time for networking with peers in a relaxed setting. Wednesday, June 4, 2025 Time: 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Location: Chacewater Winery, 5625 Gaddy Lane, Kelseyville Speakers: Christian Klier, North Coast Grape Broker, Turrentine Brokerage  Carri Beaver, Customer Relationship Manager, Pacific Gas & Electric Wine and small bites will be provided.  No fee to attend, but please RSVP to events@lakecountywinegrape.org Printable Flyer

NOVATO, CA  -  “The fact that the 2024 California wine grape crop was 2.844 million tons is nothing short of shocking. Although the 2024 crop was generally light, and overall demand was lackluster, the industry has not seen a crop this low since 2004,” according to Audra Cooper, Director of Grape Brokerage of Turrentine Brokerage. With grape acreage being removed (and the process continuing), and growers employing mothballing techniques on some of their less marketable blocks, the question now arises: Do we have enough wine grapes for the future growth of the California wine business? According to Brian Clements, Vice President of Turrentine Brokerage, “The 2023 harvest of 3.685 million tons was a major contributing factor to the industry’s oversupply, despite the approximately 325,000 tons of grapes that were left unpicked due to quality concerns and heavy yields. 2024 brought a historically lighter crop of 2.844 million tons, yet approximately 100,

This year’s harvest is coming to a close with what appears to be an excellent vintage. However, the wine industry is facing worrisome challenges from a changing marketplace, accentuated by declining consumption, rising production costs and higher interest rates. These factors combine with overabundant past harvests to fuel an oversupply situation exacerbated by bulk grapes being returned to the bulk wine sector as unsold wine.   “I think that the industry is pretty darn risk-averse,” says Marc Cuneo, a wine broker and partner at Turrentine Brokerage. “After going out and trying to sell wine from bulk into the consumer retail space and not getting much positive feedback, we’re less likely to see opportunistic buyers putting together 10,000 cases of Sonoma Cabernet from the spot market.” “There’s a lot of excess inventory in the marketplace today, with far too many grapes than the wineries need right now,” agrees Christian Klier,

In this episode, George interviews Christian Klier, North Coast Grape Broker of Turrentine Brokerage. They dive into Klier’s background as a 4th generation pear farmer from Lake County, his 25 years of vineyard management experience and his current role at Turrentine. The wine industry is currently going through challenging times and Klier gives advice to grape growers on how to succeed in the future and suggestions on how to get new consumers to drink more wine. Klier will be speaking at the annual North Coast Wine Industry Expo (https://wineindustryexpo.com) on December 5th in Santa Rosa, CA, presenting on the Grape and Bulk Wine Market Outlook: Understanding the Key Indicators for 2025. Use promo code KLIER2024 for $30 off registration.

Christian Klier, North Coast Grape Broker at Turrentine Brokerage, is presenting at the Grower Conversation series hosted by Lake County Winegrowers on Wednesday, June 5th. This series aims to connect growers, buyers, and industry experts to discuss the climate of today’s market. Each conversation will feature a brief presentation by guest speakers in the industry. We hope to see you there. Event details linked here.

February 9, 2024 – Novato, CA – The California Department of Food and Agriculture Preliminary Grape Crush Report, containing tons crushed and prices of wine grapes sold during the 2023 harvest, has been released. The Crush Report provides growers and wineries insight into the inventory position of the California wine business as a whole and influences market dynamics for the current bulk wine market and grape market.  The 2023 Crush Report, coming in at a total of 3.6 million tons, fails to capture the full story of the 2023 harvest. The crop would have been considerably larger if not for soft demand and disease pressure that caused some acres to go unharvested. Despite the size of the overall crop, most wineries found themselves with an excess supply amid challenging conditions in consumer sales.  For specific details on 2023 harvest, see below: Key Insights by Region   Tons Crushed 2023 Tons Crushed 2022 Net Gain/Loss Equivalent Gallons

Novato, CA – The California Department of Food and Agriculture Preliminary Grape Crush Report, containing tons crushed and prices of wine grapes sold during the 2022 harvest, has been released. The Crush Report provides growers and wineries insight into the inventory position of the California wine business as a whole and influences market dynamics for the current bulk wine market, as well as the upcoming 2023 winegrape market. The 2022 California Grape Crush report confirmed today what the industry had already expected; the 2022 wine grape crop was far from a barn burner. Yields per acre were light for the third year in a row, in many cases lighter than projected, and highly variable due to frost, excessive heat, and the continued effects of drought. Due to lower 2022 yields, the overall supply wineries received was less than projected. However, recent trends illustrating a challenging consumer sales growth environment may balance the 2022 wine supply, leaving some wineries clos