Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/764547
10 JANUARY 1, 2017 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Wine grape industry continues hot growth. by Ross Courtney I f juice grape sales are lagging, wine grapes make up for it. September U.S. wine sales rose from $3.3 billion to $3.7 billion, helping set an annual pace to boost the industry's overall retail value for the 11th consecutive year, Yakima Valley College agricul- ture professor Trent Ball said at the annual meeting of the Washington Grape Society in mid-November in Grandview, Washington. Red blends led the surge with 18 percent growth in off-site sales, he said, while Cabernet Sauvignon increased in sales across nearly all price points. In fact, $15 wines are one of the hot growth points in the industry, while red blends now represent the sec- ond largest red segment behind Cabernet Sauvignon, said Brett Scallan, vice president of marketing for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, also a speaker at the confer- ence. Chardonnay is still the largest and fastest-grow- ing white variety. A lot of wine industry growth is being driven by mil- lennials, young people open to new things, including imports, and willing to spend money on quality, he said. Washington's crush estimate is 292,000 tons, according to the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers, the sixth increase in seven years. Through the growing season, growers were report- ing good quality with limited sunburn and insect pressure, said Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Associated of Wine Grape Growers. "We didn't have any pockets of horribleness." Washington wine grape acreage is 56,073, Scharlau said. California, by comparison, is expected to produce 3.9 million tons, while some speculate the nation's leading producer may crack the 4 million mark. Winemakers there reported a good quality harvest with average yields as rainfall surpassed that of the previous four drought years, according to an October story on the website of the Wine Institute, a California industry group. • Low prices continue, though juice grape growers haul in good production. by Ross Courtney A third straight year of low prices awaits Concord grape growers after the 2016 harvest. Thus, just like the previous year, industry experts expect farmers to continue removing acreage as they try to push demand and prices higher. However, don't expect any quick improvements. "There are trends that are looking like things will start to slowly pick up, but it's not going to be a quick correction going into next year," consultant Trent Ball said at the annual meeting of the Washington Grape Society in mid-November in Grandview, Washington. Ball, an agriculture instructor at Yakima Valley College, has been invited by the Grape Society to give growers an industry snapshot of wine and juice grapes at the annual meeting since 2007, a presentation sometimes called the "State of the Grapes." Productivity-wise, growers all over the country had it pretty good. In Washington, above-average yields left growers expecting to harvest 194,000 tons this year, Ball said. That's well above last year's drought-hampered crop, though just below the 10-year average. Washington is the nation's leading Concord juice grape producer, represent- ing about 42 percent of U.S. production. Other U.S. growing regions — Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania — also expect large crops, putting the nation's tonnage at about 461,000 tons, the fourth largest in the past 12 years. New York, the nation's second largest Concord producer, anticipated a harvest of 137,000 tons, way above its average of 117,000 tons. Add in Pennsylvania and the entire Lake Erie region expected 208,000 tons, exceeding last year's 172,000-ton total for the two states. Concord purple blues Grapes TJ MULLINAX/GOOD FRUIT GROWER Concord grapes grow near Sunnyside, Washington, in mid-June last year. Washington is the largest Concord juice grape producer in the nation, with about 42 percent of the total U.S. crop. "There are trends that are looking like things will start to slowly pick up, but it's not going to be a quick correction going into (2017)." —Trent Ball