The Crush.December 2020 - 1

theCrush
Volume 47 Issue 12 December 2020

[ FEATURE STORY ]

2020 Grape Crush Report Survey

GUIDANCE AVAILABLE FOR REPORTING WILDFIRE, SMOKE AFFECTED GRAPES
By Ted Rieger
California processors who crushed grapes in 2020 are urged to
carefully follow instructions for completing the Grape Crush
Report questionnaire, mailed in October, that may be more
complicated for some processors to complete due to this year's
wildfires and smoke affected grapes.
The California Grape Crush Report is compiled annually by
the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)
Division of Marketing Services-Agricultural Statistics Branch in
cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). By law, data
in the report is based on grape tonnage and prices known on
or prior to Jan. 10 for the previous year's crush, and must be
reported by Jan. 10. However, in 2021, Jan. 10 falls on a Sunday,
so data must be reported by Jan. 8 for the 2020 crush.
Processors have the option to complete and return the survey
electronically by downloading an Excel spreadsheet workbook
file from the CDFA website that includes other information and
instructions at cdfa.ca.gov/mkt/grapecrush.html.
Data on winegrape tonnage and prices in the Grape Crush
Report are very important to winegrape growers and wineries
for use in negotiating future grape prices in purchase agreements
and contracts. As explained by Allied Grape Growers President
Jeff Bitter, " Many people use the Grape Crush Report as an index
for pricing, and this data is part of the price formulas written into
many winegrape contracts. " He said coastal regions with higher
value grapes generally have a much higher reliance on Grape
Crush Report data to determine pricing than do growers
and wineries in the Central Valley.
Given the widespread occurrence and
severity of wildfires and smoke in
California from August to October 2020

SURVEY DUE JAN. 8

- which resulted in significant amounts of unharvested grapes
and smoke affected grapes - CAWG members and staff held
a conference call with CDFA Marketing Services officials in
November to discuss how to accurately report data related to
smoke affected grapes.
Because prices reported in the 2020 Grape Crush Report will
serve as a basis for determining grape prices in 2021 and future
years, growers are very concerned that if grapes are reported
as crushed, but there is a reduced payment or no payment for
such grapes due to smoke damage, this could artificially lower
average grape prices. Bitter, who took part in the discussions
with CDFA, said this would most likely affect grape prices in
North Coast and Central Coast counties such as Napa County
(Crush District 4), Sonoma County (District 3) and Monterey
County (District 7), where wildfires occurred and vineyards had
more smoke exposure. This could also disproportionally affect
higher priced grape varieties, such as cabernet sauvignon and
pinot noir, that had more potential for smoke exposure.
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/mkt/grapecrush.html
The Crush.December 2020

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