Average Is Good!
Average is good!
So say the growers who are carefully watching the crop in the vineyards of California’s North Coast. The past three years (thankfully from a market standpoint) have been below average. it’s been a situation that has helped the oversupply of grapes come back into balance after the downturn in the economy that so forcefully hit the high end wine market beginning in 2001.
Now, growers are seeing "crop sets" that are in the neighborhood of 20%-25% above last year and even previous years. This is good for growers who would like to be able to sell more grapes.
Can the market handle more grapes? I don’t see any fear out there of a lake of grapes and reports suggest that prices for grapes are holding steady. These are good signs for the industry.
I’ve been predicting a resurgence in the wine market for six months now. I see no reason at this point to believe that positive market movement won’t continue. The economy is in better than decent shape. As long as there are no disasters such as breakdown in the housing market or another economy-affecting event things should continue to move ahead steadily.
For the consumer, I think this means a slight increase in prices, but nothing really outrageous like the price increases of the late 90s when things were…well…just silly. Come the holidays there should be a slew of good wines in the $10 – $20 range and even in the $6-$10 range.
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