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 “strategically opportune time for buyers to lock-in high-quality grapes at pricing most amenable to them,” and explore whether buyers are thinking the same.

Ciatti partners Todd Azevedo and Glenn Proctor, and company president Greg Livengood, held a conference session on ‘Navigating the Bulk Wine & Grape Markets: Trends, Pricing & Strategic Insights’ at the 13th Annual North Coast Wine Industry Expo in early December. Coverage of what they said can be read here, and slides from their joint presentation are included in this month’s report.

Ciatti’s broker team stands ready to draw upon its many decades of combined experience to help guide buyers and sellers through what remains a challenging time for the industry. All would like to wish you and yours a very Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year.

Read the full Ciatti California Report for December (for subscribers)

Bulk wine suppliers are invited to list their 2025 wines with us and send in samples, and ensure they have their 2024 wines on our inventory list, so we are able to harness buyer interest as it arises.

Grape growers are recommended to inform us of the grapes they may have available next year, in 2026, so we can work to match-up suppliers with buyers.

Please contact Mark (+1 415 630 2548 / mark@ciatti.com), Michael (+1 415 630 2541 / michael@ciatti.com) or the Ciatti Customer Account Team (cargroup@ciatti.com).