Mar 9, 2018

Final California grape crush numbers released

The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service on March 9 released finalized numbers for the California grape crush.

The 2017 crush totaled 4,239,836 tons, up 0.5 percent from the 2016 crush of 4,217,154 tons. Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes crushed, at 2,248,260 tons, down 1.4 percent from 2016. The 2017 white wine variety crush totaled 1,765,424 tons, up 0.8 percent from 2016. Tons crushed of raisin type varieties totaled 94,268, up 4.6 percent from 2016, and tons crushed of table type varieties totaled 131,884, up 38.2 percent from 2016.

The 2017 average price of all varieties was $777.90, up 1.9 percent from 2016. Average prices for the 2017 crop by type were as follows: red wine grapes, $965.54, up 5.1 percent from 2016; white wine grapes, $587.73, down 1.8 percent from 2016; raisin grapes, $252.86, up 18.4 percent; and table grapes, $178.37, up 16.5 percent.

In 2017, Chardonnay continued to account for the largest percentage of the total crush volume with 14.5 percent. Cabernet Sauvignon accounted for the second leading percentage of crush with 14.2 percent. Thompson Seedless, the leading raisin grape variety crushed for 2017, was only 1.8 percent of the total crush.

District 13, (Madera, Fresno, Alpine, Mono, Inyo Counties; and Kings and Tulare Counties north of Nevada Avenue (Avenue 192)), had the largest share of the State’s crush, at 1,403,145 tons.  The average price per ton in District 13 was $304.47.

Grapes produced in District 4 (Napa County) received the highest average price of $5,225.04 per ton, up 11.4 percent from 2016. District 3 (Sonoma and Marin counties) received the second highest return of $2,806.07, up 8.3 percent from 2016. The 2017 Chardonnay price of $923.67 was up 4.2 percent from 2016, and the Cabernet Sauvignon price of $1,552.83 was up 5.6 percent from 2016. The 2017 average price for Zinfandel was $591.05, down 2.2 percent from 2016, while the French Colombard average price was up 2.5 percent from 2016 at $267.39 per ton.

The entire Grape Crush Report is available online at www.nass.usda.gov/ca. The 2017 Census of Agriculture, going on now, will provide more data on producers and grapes at the county level when published in 2019.