California grape growers continue to harvest wine and table grapes; picking will last into next month. Raisin grape harvest is complete, and fruit is being sun dried. Vineyards this season benefited from good rain volume in February, and bloom lasted longer than usual due to mild spring temperatures. Yield is expected to be at least average. The Napa and Sonoma regions were warm over the summer but were spared punishing heat waves, and their grapes enjoyed a long ripening phase. The Central Valley was hotter, but table grapes reportedly handled the heat well and matured quickly.

The extensive fires this summer left a lot of smoke in the air. Vineyards around Lake County are seeing a lot of crop damage from smoke taint, but in other regions the smoke was high enough not to impact the grapes’ flavor.

Source: 123RF.com
Posted by: Information Services
Our Information Services team assists our clients with understanding commodity and ingredient market dynamics. Using our extensive database of intelligence, we also produce regular commodity and commercial market publications covering supply and demand fundamentals, news alerts on events that shape the markets, and resource guides to give you a complete picture of the industries we monitor.