The later-than-usual release of the Grape Crush Report had everyone doing what this industry does best: guessing. And when the number finally dropped, it landed somewhere between “not great” and “not nearly low enough to matter.” At approximately 2.6 million tons, the 2025 crush came in higher than most had hoped, and, more importantly, higher than many believe the market actually needs. The Facts: What the Crush Report Tells Us Data released by the California Department of Food and Agriculture shows that the 2025 grape crush totaled approximately 2.6 million tons. That represents a decline of just over 8% from the prior year and marks the smallest crop since the late 1990s. On the surface, that’s a meaningful shift. After several years where production consistently exceeded 3 million tons, supply is clearly beginning to respond. But the details matter. Key premium varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir all declined, while certain

Is there a hole in your irrigation execution?  Are you glazed and confused by your irrigation system performance?  Are irrigation issues costing you way too much dough?  Do-nut fear, Lumo is here  There are two really important things you need to know.  Lumo's giving away free Krispy Kreme donuts at the Unified Wine Grape Symposium. Booth #1932. Jan 28th 10:00 AM & 2:00 PM and Jan 29th 11:00 AM. While quantities last. Do-nut miss it.  That hole in your execution? That lack of visibility into system performance? Those climbing irrigation costs? Yeah, Lumo can help with those too.  Nail Your Irrigation Plan. Every block. Every time. With Lumo, growers can automate their irrigations from pump to plant, track pressure and flow at a block-level on every irrigation, and get automatic text alerts about leaks, clogs and any other issues that pop up in the field.  The result is precise, efficient, fully automated irrigation execution.  W

What Didn't Kill Us  Made Us Stronger (We Think) About 2025…  We've heard it from colleagues and customers, and we'll say it ourselves: 2025 was a rough one. But we kept moving. So did you. Here's what worked last year and what's still working. Product of the Year: Mori MFV Trailers This year we helped grape processors minimize over-handling, and work with machine harvesting—not against it. Mori's MFV trailers take grapes mobile, and turn anywhere into a crush pad with a tilting frame and vibrating exit tray that can directly feed a destemmer, sorter, or elevator. Read more here. Processing Essentials: Webcast Series A Free Learning Resource All About Equipment Management for Beverage Producers Practical tips, zero filler: the Processing Essentials webcast series is built for busy teams who want to learn fast. The 3rd Thursday of Each Month (Skipping July-August). Register here. Bulk Buying Is In! We're offering low costs on

2025: Clean Slate By Steve Fredricks  It is a new year and, like an Etch A Sketch, we’re hoping that the supply markets have been shaken enough over the last couple years to wipe the slate clean and allow wineries to more actively source supply in 2025. The smaller 2024 crop will help move the market cycle forward by bringing markets towards balance through reduced supply, but unlikely to greatly alter recent market dynamics until consumer demand stabilizes or increases.  As always, Turrentine has early information on key market trends from what was delivered in our grape transactions as well as analysis of early bulk market supply and demand. Based upon the information we have, so far, these early data points indicate that wineries' and growers' efforts to reduce oversupply have been successful. We have more bulk buyers in the market and more wine is selling than last year at this time. Moreover, the conversations with wineries are more about getting deals don

Looking back over a challenging 2024 and ahead to 2025 This month’s California Report looks back at the year just passed and ahead to the new one: Read on below for an in-depth review of the bulk wine and grape markets in 2024, as well as bulk inventory charts for a range of periods and an updated bulk/grape market activity barometer. A Q&A with Ciatti broker Johnny Leonardo, discussing the current market situation, will be published in the coming days, together with the first packaging bulletin of the year from our friends at Saxco. For California’s wine industry, the year 2024 was defined by a painful but necessary right-sizing as the industry evolves into one better suited to delivering to the US market something like 350 million 9-liter cases of wine per year instead of the 400 million cases of the past. Rationalization of businesses and vineyard area took greater hold – there was a marked rise in wine-related property on the real-estate market and a shortage

Verallia USA will attend UNIFIED, January 29-30th 📣 Verallia USA will be exhibiting at the upcoming UNIFIED Wine & Grapes Symposium, January 29-30th in Sacramento 🥳 As one of the leading glass packaging manufacturers, we can't wait to showcase our latest innovations and premium glass packaging solutions. Our team is ready to impress you with our range of lightweight, eco-designed, and ultra-premium bottles. Make sure to stop our booth #1205 at Unified to connect with our experts and explore our extensive collection of glass packaging solutions crafted to meet your unique needs. We can't wait to discuss how we can partner with you to make your brand shine! 📍  SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, Sacramento, CA 📅 January 29-30th, 2025 🔎 Booth #1205 Stay tuned for more exciting updates and exclusive offers as we prepare to make a splash at Unified! 🌟

Afternoon Brief: Alecia Moore, Winemaker and Two Wolves Wine Founder, Announced as Keynote Speaker for 2025 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium

The Unified Wine and Grape Symposium is proud to welcome Alecia Moore, winemaker and founder of Two Wolves Wine, as the keynote luncheon speaker to kick off the 2025 show on Tuesday, January 28...

Turrentine Brokerage is thrilled to announce that Audra Cooper, our Director of Grape Brokerage and Partner, will be speaking at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento. This annual event is one of the largest gatherings of wine and grape professionals, bringing together industry leaders to discuss the most pressing topics shaping the future of wine.  Audra will be a featured speaker during the Industry Hot Topics session on Wednesday January 29, 2025 at 12:45 pm – 2:15 pm, sharing her insights and expertise on the evolving dynamics of the grape and wine markets. With years of experience navigating the complexities of California’s North Coast and Central Coast vineyard regions, Audra offers a wealth of knowledge that growers, wineries, and industry professionals won’t want to miss. You can learn more about the session here. Visit Us at Booth #515 Turrentine Brokerage will have a booth at the Unified tradeshow. Stop by Booth #515, located on Lev

2024 may well be one of the most challenging years in recent history for the American wine industry. Let’s change that. Multiple Alarm Bells At the recent Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, several prominent experts in various fields sounded the alarms during the enormously popular “State of the Industry” session attended by several thousand industry members. Wine Economist Mike Veseth compared the present with the distant past when similar clouds were on the horizon. Wine market analyst Danny Brager cited several troubling trends in consumer demographics, beverage preferences, anti-alcohol pressures, and apparent wine industry apathy. Steve Fredricks of Turrentine Brokerage repeatedly urged California wine grape growers to immediately tear out 30,000 acres of vineyards—roughly the total in New York State for grape juice, wine, and table grapes–to alleviate the current and chronic excess supply situation. Let’s Get to Work! We possess