Last year’s wine grape harvest was the third largest in history,
despite an abnormally cool summer that prevented some locally-grown
varieties to reach full maturity and get picked.
Last year’s wine grape harvest was the third largest in history, despite an abnormally cool summer that prevented some locally-grown varieties to reach full maturity and get picked.
California wineries crushed 3.58 million tons of wine grapes in 2010, according to the Preliminary Grape Crush Report released last week by the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
The numbers fell short of the 3.67 million tons crushed in 2009 and the record harvest of 3.76 million tons in 2005. Some analysts anticipated a significant decrease in 2010 due to regional crop damage and unfavorable weather conditions.
Crop preservation and recently planted acreage offset some of those concerns.
San Benito County Agriculture Commissioner Ron Ross said final figures from local vineyards will not be available until the spring or early summer, as his office is still compiling the data.
He did note that the cooler-than-normal summer “wasn’t good” for some varietals, particularly those that thrive in warmer weather.
“There are some vineyards that weren’t able to get picked last year because some later varieties kept waiting for the warmer weather and the right sugar content,” he said. “When winter came some of the grapes weren’t ready.”
Al DeRose of DeRose Vineyards on Cienega Road said his winery’s production “was less than 10 percent above normal – not anything too different.”
“We definitely had a milder summer, which affected some varietals more than others,” he said. “The white and earlier-ripening varietals showed really well, while some that require a little more heat weren’t the best.”
Production in California’s northern interior was down 22 percent from a record year in 2009, but southern interior production increased 5 percent.
While many wineries continue to feel the effects of the recession, sales are rebounding, according to industry experts.
“Wine consumption continued to grow through the recession, but some consumers traded down to less-expensive wines,” said Steve Fredricks, president of the Turrentine Brokerage in Novato. “We’re starting to see those consumers trade back up, which is good news for wineries and growers.”
In the fall of 2010, San Benito County wine growers were lamenting the relatively cool summer, which affected the size and sugar content of some grapes – and ultimately their quality.
That was just the latest challenge for regional grape growers. They also battled the spread of the European grapevine moth, which had a quarantine area as close as southern Santa Clara County.
