Vibes more positive, not yet the hard facts and figures An unseasonably warm start to spring in California has accelerated vine development in the growing areas to a marked extent: This month’s report relays the latest news from the vineyards – and how it may, or may not, affect the bulk wine and grape markets – and delves deep into the California Department of Food & Agriculture’s Preliminary Grape Crush Report for 2025, published last month. The state’s smallest winegrape harvest in 26 years, combined with some improved mood music regarding case-good sales – if lacking hard figures to support it – has helped create a feeling that the wine industry is headed in the right direction. Before the sunlit uplands are reached, however, more painful rightsizing must occur, and we continue to see vineyards removed and mothballed, crush and storage capacity taken offline, and companies shrinking, merging, or shuttering altogether. In the shorter te

Green shoots: Is this a “transitional moment”? With spring getting underway, this month’s California Report assesses vineyard conditions, grape demand, and whether the bulk wine and grape markets are seeing the first tentative green shoots of  recovery: Is the industry in a “transitional moment” before growth returns later this year or next? We dive into recent reports that case-good sales declines in the US are slowing, using the latest SipSource US wholesale depletions data to pick out some sales trends. The convergence of pricing toward California-appellation levels on all but a select handful of wines theoretically enables bulk wine buyers to make their decisions based purely on which samples best meet their quality/character specifications. This has opened up product development and scope for wine companies to attack potential retail opportunities. With wine aisles growing shorter, this is a challenging time to “buy the dip” with inn

Market rich in strategic buying opportunities With 2026 already six weeks old, this month’s California Report relays the bulk wine and grape activity levels that we have seen since the turn of the year: What has been receiving buyer interest, and at what kind of pricing? As well as updating our monthly bulk inventory charts, we drill down deeper into the inventory we have listed with us, finding the availability picture a little more nuanced than might be assumed. Cashflow is now an almost universal concern throughout the industry, and late payment has become a common issue. Many growers are minimizing farming until their vines are contracted, some uprooting altogether. Buyers – outside of those fulfilling private-label programs – are wary of committing; some even have wine or grapes to sell. Adding to buyer hesitancy is the lack of evidence that case-good sales are stabilizing – this month’s report has the latest from SipSource on US wholesaler depletion

After 30 years of moving up and to the right, the American wine industry hit a wall. Not a temporary slowdown or a soft patch. A structural shift that requires a fundamentally different marketing playbook. 2025 was the reality check. 2026 is the year wineries either adapt or watch their customer base age out beneath them. The data is now unambiguous: wine sales dropped approximately 6% in 2024, marking the steepest decline in decades according to SipSource industry data. More troubling than the headline number is what's driving it. This isn't a recession blip or a bad vintage. It's a fundamental realignment of who drinks wine, how they buy it, and what they expect from the brands they choose. Here are the five trends reshaping the US wine market and what they mean for your brand's survival. The Demographic Disruption The wine industry built its growth on one generation: Baby Boomers. That generation is now aging out. The Wine Market Council's 2025 U.S. Consumer Ben

2025 in review; looking ahead to 2026 This month’s California Report looks back at 2025 on the bulk wine and grape markets and ahead to what we might expect to see in 2026. Bulk inventory charts for a number of 12-month ranges – and updated for January – are included, so too SipSource US wholesaler depletions data that takes in the opening two months of the important OND sales period, and the first packaging bulletin of the year from our friends at Saxco. A Q&A with Ciatti broker Chris Welch, discussing the current wine consumption and bulk market situation, will be published in the coming days. It is fair to say 2025 – like 2023 and 2024 before it – was not an easy year for California’s wine industry, nor was it for the wine industry globally. Evolving consumer preferences as the Baby Boomer generation shrinks, persisting post-pandemic inflationary tailwinds, and economic and political uncertainty, have been eroding sales in most major wine-con

Supply-demand alignment: Signs of progress? “All will be hoping 2025 is the year sales stabilization finally arrives,” the California Report stated in January. Unfortunately, those hopes were not realized, and case-good sales have continued to be fragile. As a consequence, California’s bulk wine market has remained lackluster even after a 2025 harvest widely expected to have been smaller than last year’s twenty-year low of 2.88 million tons. This month’s report relays what wines have been receiving buyer interest and at what pricing, and considers whether – after two consecutive very light crops and widespread vineyard removals – some bulk supplies are finally becoming better aligned with demand. As every month, the Ciatti bulk inventory charts by total volume and by varietal are updated, and the report carries some of the latest consumption indicators from our friends at SipSource. We suggest that now could be considered a “strategicall

"In the dark": Wine industry crying out for certainty October rainfall complicated harvest at the end of an already challenging growing season, characterized by cooler-than-normal weather and slower ripening. Growers held on for as long as possible in an attempt to attain requisite Brix levels, and some breakdown of fruit was evident, potentially reducing the final state-wide tonnage figure to the lower end of already modest expectations. The late-season grape market was very quiet, further reducing the picking of grapes in the harvest’s final weeks. This month’s report relays where and on what grapes activity did occur, and looks ahead to what we might expect to see on the 2026 grape-buying campaign. The bulk wine market has been more active, picking up slightly as October turned to November: We report on what wines this activity has occurred, where, and the identity of the buyers. The list of factors hindering market confidence is lengthy: Negative case-good sa

Harvest fairly smooth; bulk activity ticks up California’s 2025 winegrape harvest is moving into its latter stages. Timing, particularly in Coastal areas, is at the later end of normal parameters due to an accumulation of minor weather events, including a three-week stretch of lower-than-normal temperatures through July which August and September were not warm enough to offset, and rain around in some areas in recent weeks. The presence of precipitation has raised concerns regarding the welfare of any white and thin-skinned varieties still hanging, and – depending on October weather – maybe also the later-season reds. In general, however, things have been running fairly smoothly. This month’s report assesses harvest timing and tonnage performance in each region, grape quality, and provides an update on our state-wide harvest estimate. Numerous commentators have issued total tonnage predictions in recent weeks. The only certainty is that, for the third consecuti

Harvest underway amid continuing demand weakness California’s 2025 harvest is progressing amid normal conditions, with August and early September temperatures returning to or exceeding seasonal averages after a slightly cooler July. Picking is generally running to a normal timetable or slightly behind, although the ongoing lack of grape demand has created variations in vineyard management from plot to plot, so that ripening is by no means uniform across any one area. This month’s report details what we have been seeing and hearing in the vineyards of the Coast and the Interior, and revisits our state-wide crop forecast. Financial strain, risk perception, and a lack of need has ensured there has been little change in the grape market over the past month, but we identify on what grapes there has been activity, and where. The report also addresses a big question a large number of growers are having to ask themselves as picking nears: Custom crush? Broader challenges – r