Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/742839
November 2016 WINES&VINES 19 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Premier Quality from North america's leadiNg ViNe Nursery leaders raise the bar in everything they do and that's why Vintage Nurseries continues to set the industry standards for vine cleanliness, improved irrigation methods and product selection. in the last year alone, Vintage has begun work on a new, state-of-the-art greenhouse facility, changed from wood to eco-friendly recycled plastic storage bins and callous boxes, and introduced new sanitization techniques. from our 2010 Protocol mother blocks, to our advanced testing lab, the innovative new Vintage root sock and more, Vintage Nurseries strives to provide the cleanest, healthiest vines in the industry. it's how we lead. it's how we grow. Eco-friEndly plastic storagE bins plastic callous boxEs for VinE clEanlinEss VintagE nursEriEs' adVancEd nEw tEsting lab Serving the Wine, table grape, and raiSin induStrieS 800.499.9019 VintageNurseries.com wasco 661.758.4777 santa rosa 707.542.5510 paso roblEs 805.237.8914 N apa, Calif.—The Califor- nia wine grape harvest of 2016 is shaping up to be a "normal" size of about 3.9 mil- lion tons, one of the industry's closest observers of grape and wine supply and demand said during a presentation Sept. 27 at the Wine Industry Financial Sym- posium. The total crush will not be as big as the boom years of 2012, 2013 and 2014, predicted Glenn Proctor, partner in the Ciatti Co. brokerage. "It's more of a normal year in our estimate, but much better than we thought earlier in the year," Proctor said. He added that the crop size will be slightly larger than the 3.7 million tons recorded in 2015, however, and will help to balance the supply-demand situ- ation for California growers and wineries alike. Grape tonnage in California's North Coast counties, the Central Coast and Southern California, as well as the northern interior should all see a significant in- crease from 2015, Proctor said. These areas had been adversely affected in 2015 by growing con- ditions for certain varieties includ- ing Pinot Noir. The central and southern San Joaquin Valley, how- ever, may finish with smaller yields than last year. Proctor and Chris Welch, also a partner at Ciatti, said the coastal regions appear to be harvesting larger crops than what was pre- dicted as recently as August, but it remains difficult for wineries to find extra supplies of the most in- demand varieties including Caber- n e t S a u v i g n o n , P i n o t N o i r, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Meanwhile, growers who are fill- ing more gondolas and bins than they had contracted for are not having trouble selling the excess. A short supply had developed after the 2015 harvest, so grape- growers have been able to charge more this year in many cases. With steadily increasing con- sumer demand for California wine at premium prices, many wineries need an increased supply of grapes to fill their fastest growing brands. But now with grape prices increasing, that puts pressure on the wineries to raise prices if they want to maintain their margins. Proctor said that a normal crop is healthy for the wine business in general. Balance right now means, "Sellers feel they're selling too cheap, and buyers feel they are paying too much. But a normal crop is healthy. It's nice when ev- erybody can make money, not just one side or the other." —Jim Gordon 2016 California Grape Crop Estimated at 3.9 Million Tons Bins of Pinot Meunier are unloaded July 28 at Mumm Napa, kicking off the 2016 harvest in California's North Coast, where the crop is larger than expected.