Join Vineyard Team and Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance for a focused half-day 2026 Industry Update designed to help you navigate what’s happening now—and what’s coming next! Hear directly from industry experts as they break down the trends, risks, and opportunities shaping grape growing in 2026. 📅 Wednesday, May 20 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm; tickets include lunch from 12:00-1:00 pm ➡️ at Springhill Suites in Atascadero 🎟️ Reserve your spot* >>> https://secure.qgiv.com/for/2026tailgatesevents/event/2026-industry-update/ --- Event sessions include: 📊Grape Market Update & Industry Outlook Get clarity on what’s happening in the grape market and what it means for your operation: - Key trends shaping pricing and demand - Vineyard removals and supply outlook - What to expect in the next 12+ months Speakers: Audra Cooper & Eddie Urman (Turrentine Brokerage) --- 💰 Grants & Funding Opportunities Panel Learn how to access and successfully use available funding: - Where to

The later-than-usual release of the Grape Crush Report had everyone doing what this industry does best: guessing. And when the number finally dropped, it landed somewhere between “not great” and “not nearly low enough to matter.” At approximately 2.6 million tons, the 2025 crush came in higher than most had hoped, and, more importantly, higher than many believe the market actually needs. The Facts: What the Crush Report Tells Us Data released by the California Department of Food and Agriculture shows that the 2025 grape crush totaled approximately 2.6 million tons. That represents a decline of just over 8% from the prior year and marks the smallest crop since the late 1990s. On the surface, that’s a meaningful shift. After several years where production consistently exceeded 3 million tons, supply is clearly beginning to respond. But the details matter. Key premium varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir all declined, while certain

Recent-vintage stocks growing tighter The 2026 harvests in the Southern Hemisphere are in full swing – a number are ahead of a typical schedule, in fact – and this month’s Global Market Report provides the latest on conditions, grape quality, and crop-size expectations. With one exception, the bulk markets of the world have been quiet over the past month. The introduction to our March 2025 report applies again 12 months on: “The bulk market can be characterised as slow and steady since mid-February, with the Southern Hemisphere focused on harvest and demand in the Northern Hemisphere dampened by flat or declining retail sales and, in Spain, some elevated pricing.” Wary buyers are waiting to see how the harvests affect availability and pricing before committing, perhaps using the intervening time to take the industry pulse at shows like Wine Paris (growing in prominence; we review its recent instalment here) and ProWein, and generally try to gain a read on

March 13, 2026 (Novato, CA) — Following the release of the Preliminary 2025 California Grape Crush Report, Turrentine Brokerage, the largest California grape and bulk wine brokerage company, has issued a market assessment characterizing the 2025 vintage as one of the most challenging for the wine industry since Prohibition. According to the new state data, the total tons crushed came in at 2.62 million tons, a figure that is above initial projections and well above what was felt by the industry. This statewide volume is 8% below 2024 and 23% below the 5-year average. Total red wine production declined by 9% and white wine production declined by 6%. “The decrease in tons is still very positive news for the industry overall,” said Steve Fredricks, President at Turrentine Brokerage. “The 2025 vintage highlights the industry’s directional shift of declining production and an overall restructure of the industry. 2025 represented continued challenges for grower

WHAT: The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Preliminary Grape Crush Report for 2025 is a barometer for the wine and grape industry, containing prices and tons of wine grapes crushed. The Crush Report provides growers and wineries insight into the inventory position for the California wine business as a whole, and can influence market dynamics for the current bulk wine and grape markets as well as potential impacts at the consumer level. WHEN: CDFA is scheduled to release the Crush Report at 12:00PM PST on Friday, March 13th, 2026.ANALYSIS: A historically small crop coupled with below break-even spot market grape pricing compounds wine industry headwinds. For the second consecutive year, the California Crush Report will reflect a wine industry navigating a significant supply-and-demand imbalance. While actual tons harvested remained historically light across many regions in 2025, the primary driver of market instability is the sustained decline in consumer demand and

Market slow; older stocks skew availability picture In this month’s Global Market Report, all countries are united in reporting the symptoms of an industry entering the fourth year of a challenging environment: late loadings, late payments, cashflow shortages, and vineyard removals. Already gathering momentum is a belief that 2026 will be another “transitional” year before market stability finally arrives, hopefully in 2027. But many wine industry operators are running out of time for things to improve. On the supply side, strides have been made over the past two years, assisted by shorter winegrape crops across the world: thanks to a combination of Mother Nature and human hand, global production in 2024 was estimated to have been the lowest since 1961, and 2025 production registered only a slight uptick. A significant challenge is the “polluting echo” of older inventory, which gives buyers a skewed perception of abundance. Current or recent-vintage suppl

Beyond the Peak of Excess by Steve Fredricks As we turned the calendars to 2026, the landscape felt familiar: excess inventories, a scarcity of buyers, and a relentless stream of negative headlines that keep the wine markets entrenched in a perception of "peak of excess." While it is true that some inventories remain swollen and activity in the bulk wine and grape markets is sluggish, significant actions (and reactions) to correct this oversupply have been underway behind the scenes for years. These actions are beginning to come to the forefront in the form of vineyard removals and, unfortunately, the closing of wineries and other associated businesses in the industry.  The combination of unsold tonnage and strategic vineyard removals has limited both recent crop sizes and reduced future supply potential. The 2024 crop, totaling 2.864 million tons, was the smallest in 20 years; 2025 is likely to be dramatically smaller. However, projecting actual tons crushed for 2025 i

Supply-demand alignment: Signs of progress? “All will be hoping 2025 is the year sales stabilization finally arrives,” the California Report stated in January. Unfortunately, those hopes were not realized, and case-good sales have continued to be fragile. As a consequence, California’s bulk wine market has remained lackluster even after a 2025 harvest widely expected to have been smaller than last year’s twenty-year low of 2.88 million tons. This month’s report relays what wines have been receiving buyer interest and at what pricing, and considers whether – after two consecutive very light crops and widespread vineyard removals – some bulk supplies are finally becoming better aligned with demand. As every month, the Ciatti bulk inventory charts by total volume and by varietal are updated, and the report carries some of the latest consumption indicators from our friends at SipSource. We suggest that now could be considered a “strategicall

Harvests downgraded; buyers largely unmoved The recent downgrading of Italy’s 2025 crush-size forecast means that none of this year’s major Northern Hemisphere winegrape harvests are now projected to reach their five-year averages. At least three, in fact, are expected to fall considerably short, due to climatic conditions but also vineyard removals and mothballing. As this month’s Italy page points out, this raises the possibility that “global wine output in 2025 will come in lower than in 2024”, a year that – according to the International Organisation of Vine & Wine – saw the lowest wine production since 1961. Indicative of demand pressure at the retail end, or the lack of it, the response of bulk wine buyers has mainly been to sit back and assess rather than jump onto the market, especially where wine prices have risen. As one of our European pages states this month: “Suppliers were understandably pushing for pricing in line with