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 a lingering oversupply from previous vintages. This surplus has pressured the average price per ton downward, with spot market pricing falling below break-even levels for many growers for the second or third year running, depending on region. Because agricultural lenders frequently utilize the Crush Report’s pricing data to determine valuations, these suppressed figures are expected to further restrict access to capital, intensifying the financial strain on an already fragile industry.

Turrentine Brokerage can help provide clarity to the Crush Report data summary. Our proprietary sales data provides real-time insights into the spot market, offering a more accurate picture of the balance of supply to demand than potentially misleading district averages. Furthermore, our detailed acreage calculations, combined with actual crush tonnage data, will provide valuable insight into vineyard removals by region and variety. This analysis can reveal significant shifts in supply and demand, ultimately impacting grape prices and, eventually, consumer costs.

WHO: With over 50 years of wine industry experience, Turrentine Brokerage, California’s largest wine grape and bulk wine brokerage company, has a team of trusted strategic advisors to wineries, growers and financiers.

Turrentine Brokerage will have its experienced team of grape and wine brokers and analysts available all-day Friday, March 13th, and throughout the following week for comments and questions.