\u201cOur costs are between US$3000 and US$4500 an acre to farm,\u201d he said, as he picked his way through abandoned Chardonnay vines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re twirling the toilet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even ripping out the vines is difficult, said Baranek, with California\u2019s strict environmental rules making it expensive to convert a field, prompting some farmers to leave them to go wild.<\/p>\n
Such abandoned plots have become commonplace in Lodi, where around 130 varieties of grapes are grown, and which is known particularly for its Zinfandels.<\/p>\n
Slowing demand<\/p>\n
The decline in production has been consistent over the last few years, reaching its lowest point in two decades in 2024, when 2.9 million tonnes of grapes were harvested, said Stuart Spencer, executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission.<\/p>\n
This year, that figure is expected to fall by a further 400,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n
Spencer says a shift in the shape of the wine market in the United States is at the root of the changes.<\/p>\n
After three decades of growth, in which California, Oregon, and Washington state forged a domestic consumer base previously enamoured with the Old World wines of France, Italy, and Spain, the last three years have been challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole spectrum of those that contribute to the wine industry are struggling right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A worker picks leaves from a conveyor belt on a harvester during the harvest of grapes from a Central Valley wine grape vineyard in Lodi. Photo \/ Patrick T. Fallon, AFP<\/p>\n
On the consumer side, changing tastes and habits mean \u201cpeople are just drinking less\u201d. he said.<\/p>\n
The economy is also crimping demand, said Spencer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inflation we\u2019ve seen over the last few years is really impacting the consumer\u2019s wallet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vintners are reacting to this slowdown in demand by seeking out other suppliers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the big changes we\u2019ve seen here in California is our largest wineries, who are also the largest grape buyers, are choosing to import cheap, bulk wine instead of purchasing local grapes,\u201d said Spencer.<\/p>\n
That price differential, he says, is the result of a skewed market.<\/p>\n
\u201cEuropean wine growers are heavily subsidised by the EU … So we are at a disadvantage. We are not playing on a fair, level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n
From grapes to almonds<\/p>\n
Some farmers are reluctantly giving up the grapes, at least on a portion of their land, opting instead for in-demand and lower-cost products like almonds.<\/p>\n
It is not a decision they take lightly, because replanting a vineyard can cost tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
It can also affect the wider community, with fewer workers needed for crops like almonds, whose harvest is largely automated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no other talk on the streets; we\u2019re all very worried,\u201d said one worker who has toiled in the area\u2019s vineyards for 10 years. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I would do without this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Phillips is among those who have made the leap, converting one of his generations-old vineyards to an almond orchard.<\/p>\n
The area has good water supplies \u2013 key for thirsty almond trees \u2013 and the crop can cost just a quarter of what it does to farm grapes, he said.<\/p>\n
Kevin Phillips looks at a recently planted field of almond trees that replaced a former Central Valley wine grape vineyard. Photo \/ Patrick T. Fallon, AFP<\/p>\n
But one of the major attractions for a farmer is that demand is robust, and selling them is very straightforward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith wine grapes, you\u2019ve really got to go out there and you\u2019ve got to talk to wineries, you\u2019ve got to make connections, you\u2019ve got to hope that things work, you\u2019ve got to hope that all the stars line up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmonds, you don\u2019t have to talk to anybody. There\u2019s just a demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Phillips, who said he made the difficult decision to rip out his vines after a few bottles of wine, the move is bittersweet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much easier\u201d to farm almonds, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I hate to say this, because I\u2019m a wine guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
-Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOur costs are between US$3000 and US$4500 an acre to farm,\u201d he said, as he picked his way…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[70359,806,138,179,167,15364,2199,1444,12967,27508,70358,23361,305,440,70360,5812,130,111,139,69,1118,544,3258,36267,131,1361,1961,3551,1754,70361],"class_list":["post-94880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-abandon","tag-as","tag-business","tag-california","tag-californian","tag-century","tag-city","tag-famous","tag-farmers","tag-fields","tag-grape","tag-growers","tag-have","tag-local","tag-lodis","tag-make","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-some","tag-struggles","tag-supplied","tag-than","tag-that","tag-this","tag-vines","tag-wine","tag-wineries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}