Astro Hacker News - California Farmers Are Struggling to Sell Grapes as Demand for Wine Drops

legitster |next [-]

My parents live in a massive fruit growing region of the country. Just this year, 2 of the major packing firms in the county both declared bankruptcy. It's not just the trade war, but years of shrinking seasonal workers that fell off to a trickle as well.

The knock on effect is massive. The seasonal workers supported a large permanent workforce - and more importantly tax revenues in the county are collapsing.

But the really important thing to understand is that once the industry is gone, it's gone for a long time. The other markets competing with the US are already expanding their industries to fill the void. Once those trees are planted, they produce fruit for several decades to come.

ortusdux |next |previous [-]

https://wineinstitute.org/press-releases/one-year-later/

https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/commodities/wine-related-produ...

randycupertino |root |parent [-]

- Tariffs so less international demand for US wine

- Canadian boycots of US products due to tariff wars

- Boomer wine buyers dying off

- younger generations drinking less overall and being less into wine

- everyone on GLP-1s drinking less

ortusdux |root |parent |next [-]

- Legal pot

reactordev |root |parent [-]

- The economy

philipallstar |root |parent |previous [-]

> - Tariffs so less international demand for US wine

Why's this?

legitster |root |parent [-]

I feel like this is a trolling question. Demand for US exports has never been lower in recent history.

iharuya |next |previous [-]

I don't mean to dismiss wine as something people can appreciate almost like art, but sometimes the pricing does feel a little absurd.

I once had a red from Franciscan, made from a vineyard right next to Opus One. To me it tasted remarkably similar, yet it cost more than 30x less.

programmertote |next |previous [-]

Not sure how the extra supply for grapes affect retail prices of grapes for regular consumption. But at Costco in Southern CA, the price of grapes have been fairly stable (~$5.99 - $7.99) over the last year or a little more.

Starman_Jones |root |parent |next [-]

California’s wine grapes (vitis vinifera) aren’t suitable for eating. Some varieties (vitis labrusca) can be used for table grapes or wine grapes, but those aren’t really grown in California.

|root |parent |previous [-]

thot_experiment |next |previous [-]

I can't believe the leopards would eat MY face.

ncphillips |root |parent [-]

Oh no

Anyways

neom |next |previous [-]

Wasn't SGMA always the big long term problem for them anyway? I recall reading some time ago many are looking to pivot to solar farms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Groundwater_Manage...

1970-01-01 |next |previous [-]

If demand is down globally, sell the land already. People will do everything except the hardest thing.

rayiner |next |previous [-]

We shouldn’t be farming things in California.

driverdan |next |previous [-]

> Third-generation grower Bill Berryhill said it means another year of losing money and wasting hundreds of tons of healthy grapes.

The article fails to mention that Bill Berryhill is a former Republican state rep, from a family of Republican politicians, likely a Trump supporter, and therefore a supporter of Trump's Canadian policies. Now he wants to complain when it impacts him.

gonight |root |parent |next [-]

Finding the hidden "leopards ate MY face!?" in 2026's news stories has become my latest hobby.

legitster |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Even if that slippery slope logic were true, the vast vast vast majority of farmers in the country are some flavor of conservative. It would be hard to ignore all of them and also care about our food supply.

apparent |root |parent |previous [-]

Which policy related to Canada is affecting the grape business? I didn't see it referenced, and assumed that since it's being described as a trend over 3 years then it's not just about tariffs.

vehemenz |next |previous [-]

I’ll believe it when wine prices go down. Prove it!

toomuchtodo |next |previous [-]

If you’re a domestic US wine lover, now is a great time to be buying if you have the space to store it.

JumpCrisscross |root |parent |next [-]

:D

That said, American wine—and California wine in particular—has a bit of an IPA problem inasmuch as there is a lot of overpriced, overproduced swill being priced exceptionally high by international standards.

alistairSH |root |parent |next [-]

Not just American wine... wines from any region have always been more expensive in the US.

Quick poking around Google... Italy, France, and Germany all have mid-tier bottles of their own domestic wine for far less than we (in the US) get any wine, domestic or import.

toomuchtodo |root |parent |previous [-]

I get the swill at a discount :) "The best wine is the wine you like best." Best deal I recently got was a few hundred bottles for under $1k, <$5/bottle. Easier than the trek to a Trader Joe's or Costco, ymmv (and I don't feel bad throwing a bottle out if it isn't for me, versus a $100+ bottle).

nkrisc |root |parent |next [-]

Sounds like a great deal, but that’s quite a lot of space required to store them, no?

harvey9 |root |parent |next [-]

'a lot' depends on how much you had to begin with.

toomuchtodo |root |parent |previous [-]

Not really, takes up a large wall in a residential detached single family home basement somewhere in the Midwest. Everything is relative.

vehemenz |root |parent [-]

Don’t even need that. If they’re packed in wine boxes they take up hardly any space.

Ancalagon |root |parent |previous [-]

Do you just buy barrels at that point?

JumpCrisscross |root |parent |next [-]

Large-format bottles are criminally underappreciated this side of the Atlantic.

toomuchtodo |root |parent |previous [-]

Only one so far, I'm willing to take more but not a lot on offer. Maybe I'm talking to the wrong suppliers. There's a right price for everything, but I am looking for fire sale|"going out of business" prices. Replies with leads welcome!

vrosas |root |parent |previous [-]

I feel for the wine growers, but as an avid wine consumer I'm looking forward to better deals.

shmoil |next |previous [-]

"Coca farmers are struggling to sell cocaine".

Grow more table grapes? Here in "Northern America" I haven't seen grapes on sale the whole summer, not even once.

bigwheels |root |parent |next [-]

This is a totally different variety of grape compared to what they're setup to grow now.

I was thinking along the same vein, though - what about special varieties of grape juice?

It is objectively good if demand for alcohol goes down.

onlypassingthru |root |parent |next [-]

NA grape soda made from wine varietals is a niche product you can find in some wine producing regions here in the US and usually fairly expensive for a soda. All of the ones I've tried are pretty tasty, tough!

neom |root |parent |next |previous [-]

It's gonna be quite a lot of additional surplus, and, they already do this. Surplus wine grapes get sold to concentrate makers, however, it pays less than it costs to grow them because concentrate is basically a commodity sweetener competing with sugar, corn syrup, and apple concentrate. Bottled grape juice is a small and shrinking market, and in that market, most people expect Concord flavour (these aren't that), plus a lot of bottled juice is reconstituted from that same commodity concentrate anyway.

ScoobleDoodle |root |parent |previous [-]

Yes! I don't drink alcohol but have gone wine tasting with friends and one vineyard had grape juice from some of their grapes and it was interesting and yummy.

An interesting variety of grape juices would be very cool.

lukeify |root |parent |next |previous [-]

You realise to grow table grapes, you need to rip out the current vines you have right?

EdwardDiego |root |parent [-]

Wine grapes are rather nice to eat (at least the ones I've tried), but they're typically smaller than American table grapes I've experienced, but hey, sell them as heirloom varieties at Portland farmers markets maybe?

dylan604 |root |parent |previous [-]

Why put something on sale when it is selling just fine at the current rates?

shmoil |root |parent [-]

I guess I am an outlier, I did not have any grapes until September, when Ontario grapes became available.

It did not feel right to buy murican grapes at full price in the middle of the summer.

SwellJoe |previous [-]

While I enjoy a glass of wine every now and then, I'm not going to lament the decline of an industry producing alcoholic products; it's inarguably good that younger generations are drinking less. Sorry to the farmers, but profiting off of increasing public health risk maybe should be a precarious business. I'm not gonna get upset about tobacco farms shutting down or having to switch crops, and alcohol is just another addictive and harmful substance (I've known more people who died due to alcohol than any other substance, one in a drunk driving accident, one due to liver failure, two were alcoholics who died by suicide...can't be certain it was the alcohol, but addiction certainly didn't help their situation).

But, also, the income of younger generations has been crushed so much, the ones that do still drink can't afford expensive luxury booze. Decent wine is an expensive way to drink alcohol.