Afternoon Brief, March 13th

North Coast Wine Industry Cautiously Optimistic as 2024 Grape Season Starts: Wine grape growers and vintners are cautiously optimistic as the 2024 season gets underway for the North Coast crop...

(February 10, 2021, Novato, CA) – The California Department of Food and Agriculture Preliminary Grape Crush Report for 2020 was released today. This harvest was much smaller than average, but from a volume perspective it was in line with the Ciatti Company’s pre-harvest estimate. That said, this may be the most challenging crush report to analyze. Total tons were down but that was due to both Mother Nature’s lighter yields and issues of smoke exposure that plagued most of the entire Coastal regions where an unknown amount of the crop didn’t get picked. Trying to discern how each of these issues affected the final tons that crossed scales is a question that will drive future discussions in this market place.Those same issues could be examined when analyzing the pricing we see in this report. Pricing was down across the board. Mostly we feel that was due to a sluggish to nonexistent Coastal spot grape market in early 2020. But also, to a lesser extent, that was du

(February 10, 2020, Novato, CA) – We’ll never know how big this crush could have been!! The California Department of Food and Agriculture Preliminary Grape Crush Report for 2019 was released today. The 2019 Harvest size rivals the 2014 harvest and is the second smallest harvest since 2011. While not good news for farmers it is welcome respite for an industry under pressure from oversupply and weak case goods demand. While most all thought the harvest could the largest ever “unpicked fruit” are the words of the day! Of note: red wine grapes were down 12.8% while white grapes were only down 4.3%, indicating that varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel may have been the varietals left on the vine! Ciatti’s experienced brokers will be available for further details, comments & analysis on the 2018 California Grape Crush Report. Please call 415-458-5150. Cabernet Sauvignon was most surprising: many thought this was going to be the first year that Cabernet Sauvi