The total harvest of wine grapes in 2011 was 3.34 million tons, down 7 percent from 2010, according to a preliminary report by the California Department of Food and Agriculture released on February 10.
“The Central Coast crop was hammered by frost in April of 2011 — which sliced the 2011 crop down 28% from 2010,” said Matt Turrentine, partner at Turrentine Brokerage. “San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties were hit especially hard — down 35%! To put this in absolute terms, the Central Coast harvested 150,000 fewer tons in 2011 than in 2010.”
Red wine grapes accounted for the largest share of grapes harvested, at 1.9 million tons. The white wine grape harvest totaled 1.4 million tons.
“This average sized crop comes at a time when industry inventories are at record lows,” said Steve Fredricks, President of Turrentine Brokerage. “There is increased demand for all the major varieties — most of which experienced lighter crops. Supply will remain short for the foreseeable future, keeping prices strong for grapes and bulk wine. Ultimately, consumer prices will increase as well.”
Following the law of supply and demand, the average price of wine grapes reached a record high of $588.96 a ton, up 8 percent from 2010 and 3 percent above the previous record high set in 2009. Red wine grapes went up 12 percent from 2010 and white wine grapes went up 8 percent.
The Chardonnay price of $752.30 per ton was up 5 percent from 2010, and the Cabernet Sauvignon price of $1,147.10 per ton was up 11 percent from 2010. The 2011 average price for Zinfandel was $559.00, up 26 percent from 2010, while the Merlot average price was up 13 percent from 2010 at $691.05 per ton.
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