Market turns for grape growers(1)
Pete Opatz, vice president and senior viticulturalist of Silverado Premium Properties, stands in a vineyard with year-old vines, protected by milk cartons, in Geyserville.
BETH SCHLANKER/Press Democrat
It’s been a long time since grape growers felt coveted like a hot commodity, but after two years of weather that pummeled the crop, wineries are pursuing them again.
Grape growers are suddenly like the popular girl on the cheerleading squad, while wineries are the pursuer, competing for their attention — and hoping they will agree to go steady for a while. And it’s setting up a dynamic where some growers want to hold out and wait for the best offer.
“The wineries have pens in their hands, but I don’t know that growers have yet,” said Glenn Proctor, partner and grape broker at Ciatti Company. “People want to date me. So do I go back with the person I took to the prom last year? Or these five other people want to date me, should I talk to them?”
Many grape growers are being offered multi-year grape growing contracts from wineries seeking to buy their grapes, and some are being offered contracts to plant new vineyards, agreements that can last a decade.
The trend comes in sharp contrast to the past two years, when a faltering economy, lower grape prices and a relatively abundant crop meant that wineries could easily find quality grapes to buy when needed.
The impact on growers was painful. Some saw multi-year contracts cancelled. Others spent more growing and harvesting the grapes than they could recoup by selling them. Some left their grapes to rot on the vine, unable to find a buyer willing to pay them enough to harvest their fruit.
“We have moved from what I would call a pure buyer’s market to a pure seller’s market, in six months,” said Brian Clements, vice president of Turrentine Wine Brokerage.
