US: 2008 wine harvest down in California - statistics

California has posted a fall in its wine grape crush last year, according to recent figures.

In a report from the California Agricultural Statistics Service, released yesterday (11 February), last year's wine grape harvest from the state was reported as coming in at just over 3m tonnes, down on the 3.2m tonnes crushed in 2007.

Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes crushed, at 1.7m tonnes, down 9% from 2007. The 2008 white wine variety crush, meanwhile totalled 1.3m tonnes, down 2% on the year before, the service said.

Tonnes crushed of raisin type varieties totalled 494,124, up 36%, with tonnes crushed of table type varieties coming in at 117,099, up 85% from 2007.

Chardonnay accounted for the largest percentage of the total crush volume with 15.4%, with Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon accounting for 10.8% and 8.9% respectively.