July 09, 2002

2001 Harvest & Wine Industry Synopsis

Leveraging the knowledge from wine industry experts can inform what grapes I decide to buy, which areas I choose, and how much I should be willing to pay.

After reading the Caroline Meredith's post to West Coast Wine Network, I came across a very insightful article. Barry Bedwell of Joseph W. Ciatti Co., a prominent grape and wine brokerage, wrote a synopsis of the 2001 Harvest and describes the impact of San Joquin Valley growers changing their crops to grapes.
His 2001 Harvest Synopsis includes 4 main points"

  • The first looks to be the excellent quality of the fruit harvested throughout all areas of California.

  • The second will be the overall size of the crop which came in at levels less than what was originally expected.

  • The third, unfortunately, will be for the growing gap, due to growing supply and availability, between the spot market pricing for most varieties and those grapes continuing under multiyear contracts.

  • The fourth, most unfortunately, looks to be for the extremely low grape values in some areas of the state that will signal the pullout or abandonment of a material number of vineyards.


    • If you are interested, read his article, 2001 Winegrape Quality Excellent But Pricing Pressures Grow, which brilliantly summaries the current supply and demand situation.

    Posted by Sasha on July 09, 2002 05:00 PM