With the bulk wine and grape markets stubbornly sluggish, and a number of vineyards and crush facilities mothballed, the Californian wine industry this year enters the normally bustling harvest season eerily quiet. This month’s Ciatti California Report assesses vineyard conditions as picking gets underway, identifies what wines and grapes have received some demand, and examines the latest sales data emanating from retail.
Much of California experienced a three-week stretch of cooler-than-normal weather through July. The California Report investigates the potential consequences for harvest timing, yield, and vine health: Mildew is an issue, albeit highly localized. It remains too early to confidently forecast the crop size, but we attempt a general ballpark figure.
This month’s report also explains what we mean by “sticky” inventory, and updates our ongoing charts showing – by total volume and by varietal – the bulk inventory listed with us. Meanwhile, the Saxco Update discusses how the US administration’s “constellation of tariff shifts” is affecting glass wine bottles. And both we and Saxco shine a light on current consumer behavior in response to higher shelf prices.
On the bulk market, “buying activity has been dominated by nimble, private-label buyers ticking along with streamlined inventories and steadily securing low-priced opportunities”. This low-inventory, just-in-time business is purely bulk-wine focused, bringing no relief to the grape market: “There is more vineyard mothballing on the Coast this year than we have seen in the past, catching up with the Interior where the process has been ongoing since 2023.”
Paying subscribers can read the full Ciatti California Report for July on Substack.
If you are not yet a paying subscriber and would like access to the full report, including –
actionable bulk wine and grape market intelligence;
the latest bulk inventory charts by volume and by varietal;
the Ciatti Bulk/Grape Market Barometer;
updates on vineyard conditions and harvest;
SipSource data on US wholesaler depletions;
Saxco beverage packaging update;
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