The 2019 California wine grape crush totaled 4,085,772 tons, down 9.3% from the 2018 crush of 4,506,010 tons. Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes crushed, at 2,135,112 tons, down 12.8% from 2018. The 2019 white wine variety crush totaled 1,755,141 tons, down 4.3% from 2018.
Tons crushed of raisin-type varieties totaled 61,051, down 26% from 2018, and tons crushed of table type varieties totaled 134,468 down 5.6% from 2018.
The 2019 average price of all varieties was $790.43, down 5% from 2018. Average prices for the 2019 crop by type were as follows: red wine grapes, $990.07, down 2.9% from 2018; white wine grapes, $580.66, down 8.6% from 2018; table grapes, $262.60, up 36.8%; and raisin grapes, $244.88, down 19%.
In 2019, ‘Chardonnay’ continued to account for the largest percentage of the total crush volume with 15.6%. ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ accounted for the second leading percentage of crush with 14.1%. ‘Thompson Seedless,’ the leading raisin grape variety crushed for 2019, held only 1.1% of the total crush.
The southern San Joaquin Valley (Madera, Fresno, Alpine, Mono, Inyo counties; and Kings and Tulare counties north of Nevada Avenue (Avenue 192)), had the largest share of the state’s crush, at 1,307,233 tons. The average price per ton in the region was $300.60.
Grapes produced in Napa County received the highest average price of $5,797.07 per ton, up 3.9% from 2018. Growers in Sonoma and Marin counties received the second highest return of $2,823.67, up 0.2% from 2018.
The 2019 ‘Chardonnay’ price of $899.83 was down 7.3% from 2018, and the ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ price of $1,720.61 was up 2.2% from 2018. The 2019 average price for ‘Zinfandel’ was $564.74, down 5.8% from 2018, while the ‘French Colombard’ average price was down 5.% from 2018 at $275.89 per ton.
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Big Bite Taken Out of California Wine Grape Crush
David Eddy is Editor of American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower, and Senior Editor of American Vegetable Grower, both Meister Media Worldwide publications. See all author stories here.