E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format | Submit A Comment

By The Associated Press - and The Madera Tribune

Analysts say wine drinkers will continue to see high quality bottles at low prices following a 23 percent spike in California's winegrape harvest last year, the second largest in history.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture's preliminary grape crush report shows the state produced 3.69 million tons of wine grapes in 2009. That's just shy of the record 2005 crush of 3.76 million tons.

The largest share of the state's crush was in District 13 - comprising Madera, Fresno, Alpine, Mono, Inyo counties, and a portion of Kings and Tulare counties - at 1,344,513 tons. The average price per ton in District 13 was $247.87, according to the preliminary grape crush report, released earlier this week.

The highest price for grapes were those produced in Napa County, which went for an average of $3,400.85 per ton, down 1 percent from 2008. Sonoma and Marin counties received the second highest return of $2,180.28, down 3 percent from 2008.

Jon Fredrikson, a wine industry consultant, says many growers decided to increase production in 2009 in the face of growing competition from low-priced foreign growers. Favorable weather also played a role.

"The bottom line is we have never had such a dream market for American wine consumers as we have today," he said.

In 2009, Chardonnay accounted for the largest percentage of the total crush volume with 17.8 percent. Zinfandel accounted for the second leading percentage of crush with 10.9 percent of the total crush. The next eight highest percentages of grapes crushed were all wine varieties, with the exception of Thompson Seedless.

The 2009 Chardonnay price of $756.12 was down 7 percent from 2008, and the Cabernet Sauvignon price of $1,068.23 was down 4 percent from 2008. The 2008 average price for Zinfandel was $457.11, down 1 percent from 2008, while the Merlot average price was down 4 percent from 2008 at $624.25 per ton.

Brian Clements, a Novato wine and grape broker, said the 2009 crop will allow wine makers to produce more of the lower-priced wines that have become hot sellers during the economic downturn.

The Associated Press The Madera Tribune online subscription To subscribe or log on, CLICK HERE. For more information first, CLICK HERE.