California Farmers Are Struggling to Sell Grapes as Demand for Wine Drops

My parents live in a massive fruit growing region of the country. Just this year, 2 of the major packing firms in the county both declared bankruptcy. It's not just the trade war, but years of shrinking seasonal workers that fell off to a trickle as well.

The knock on effect is massive. The seasonal workers supported a large permanent workforce - and more importantly tax revenues in the county are collapsing.

But the really important thing to understand is that once the industry is gone, it's gone for a long time. The other markets competing with the US are already expanding their industries to fill the void. Once those trees are planted, they produce fruit for several decades to come.

I don't mean to dismiss wine as something people can appreciate almost like art, but sometimes the pricing does feel a little absurd.

I once had a red from Franciscan, made from a vineyard right next to Opus One. To me it tasted remarkably similar, yet it cost more than 30x less.

https://wineinstitute.org/press-releases/one-year-later/

https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/commodities/wine-related-produ...

Not sure how the extra supply for grapes affect retail prices of grapes for regular consumption. But at Costco in Southern CA, the price of grapes have been fairly stable (~$5.99 - $7.99) over the last year or a little more.

I can't believe the leopards would eat MY face.

Wasn't SGMA always the big long term problem for them anyway? I recall reading some time ago many are looking to pivot to solar farms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Groundwater_Manage...

We shouldn’t be farming things in California.

If demand is down globally, sell the land already. People will do everything except the hardest thing.

I’ll believe it when wine prices go down. Prove it!

> Third-generation grower Bill Berryhill said it means another year of losing money and wasting hundreds of tons of healthy grapes.

The article fails to mention that Bill Berryhill is a former Republican state rep, from a family of Republican politicians, likely a Trump supporter, and therefore a supporter of Trump's Canadian policies. Now he wants to complain when it impacts him.

If you’re a domestic US wine lover, now is a great time to be buying if you have the space to store it.

"Coca farmers are struggling to sell cocaine".

Grow more table grapes? Here in "Northern America" I haven't seen grapes on sale the whole summer, not even once.

While I enjoy a glass of wine every now and then, I'm not going to lament the decline of an industry producing alcoholic products; it's inarguably good that younger generations are drinking less. Sorry to the farmers, but profiting off of increasing public health risk maybe should be a precarious business. I'm not gonna get upset about tobacco farms shutting down or having to switch crops, and alcohol is just another addictive and harmful substance (I've known more people who died due to alcohol than any other substance, one in a drunk driving accident, one due to liver failure, two were alcoholics who died by suicide...can't be certain it was the alcohol, but addiction certainly didn't help their situation).

But, also, the income of younger generations has been crushed so much, the ones that do still drink can't afford expensive luxury booze. Decent wine is an expensive way to drink alcohol.