Posted on 10/13/2025 6:23:18 AM PDT by Red Badger
(FOX40.COM) — According to the California Association of Winegrape Growers, the Golden State produces about 80% of all wine in the United States.
The wine industry has been a major economic driver for the state for decades. Creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, generating billions in revenue, and attracting tourism.
However, now the state’s wine industry is in a crisis, tackling several challenges. It’s an impact affecting local farmers and wineries in Northern California
“I am fourth-generation farmer here in Clarksburg for my family’s farm, Wilson Vineyards, and I am the owner and winemaker of Silt Wine Company,” said David Ogilvie.
Just like many grape growers in California, this year some of Ogilvie’s grapes will go unpicked because of no buyers.
“This is the first time, in my family’s history, that this block is going unsold,” Ogilvie explained.
The block he is referring to is a section about 15 acres big and unfortunately, not the only grapes that will remain on the vine this harvest season.
“It’s an economic hit to the family farm. When we have multiple blocks like we do this year that will go on unharvested, it hurts,” Ogilvie said.
“Growers throughout California are facing an immense amount of challenges today and really, it’s not just one singular challenge. It is a host of challenges that have all stacked up and have really made things pretty dire here, Natalie Collins, President of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, said.
She said some of the challenges include a decrease in consumption by the younger generation, an oversupply of grapes, and an increase in cheaper imports.
“We’ve seen bulk wine, flood into the U.S. it’s up 17% year to date,” said Collins, “We get calls daily at our association from growers looking for answers. What can I do next? Sadly, there are generational farmers who are going out of business.”
Collins added this harvest season, more grapes will go unharvested while other vineyards will simply be lost.
“We removed over 37,000 acres of vineyards last year and there’s a call for another 50,000 to be removed,” Collins said.
“We are seeing, you know, a loss of jobs. Farm workers are struggling. The trucking companies are going to be struggling. Our suppliers, our barrel companies, the grapevine nurseries are fertilizer companies,” said Stuart Spencer, executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission.
Spencer added the farmers and wineries in the region are adapting during these challenging times. Finding new ways to bring in more consumers into the wine industry.
Spencer explained that right now, the biggest push is for people to support local.
“You know, we need to support local businesses. That’s how we all benefit. When you go to the stores, you know, look where your food comes from, look where your wine comes from and support Californians. It’ll benefit all of us,” Spencer said.
While the future of the wine industry in the Golden State is unknown, grape growers and winemakers in Northern California are hopeful.
Most definitely yes. I grew up in the Napa Valley. There were vineyards then, but a lot of other crops too. Now it's all vineyards. My grandparents grew corn and tomatoes (as did other farmers). There were walnut orchards. There was a walnut dehydrator in town. Lots of prune orchards too. Starting at age 12, I'd pick prunes in the summer, out in the fields with the migrant workers. 35 cents a box (about 20x14x6). Backbreaking work. Prunes (yes, they were called prunes, not plums) were knocked of the trees to the ground. Kneeling on bumpy dirt clouds all day.
Usually no. Most wine grapes are grown on relatively marginal land, often hilly, and usually unsuitable for farming. The "old vine" vineyards can be grown without irrigation, which in California makes it unlikely to grow much of anything else without adding expensive water.
Abandoned vineyards usually become hotbeds for exotic weed reproduction. Environmentally, this is not a good thing.
The flavored seltzers have also taken a pretty good chunk of the market.
I was at a dinner party on Saturday. Not one person was drinking beer. I usually am the only one who does out of the group.
I was drinking vodka seltzer.
I believe that the seltzers have taken the place of the same people that don’t really like beer and they don’t want to drink wine either. IMHO these are the same type of person who drank wine coolers back in the 1980s. If they were feeling sophisticated they drank White Zinfindal. Basically sweet wine. Almost like flavored soda/pop.
Nancy will have to drink her own wine ,LOL
Wonder if it has anything to do with California’s artificially high minimum wage laws.
I picked peas when I was really young. I think it was $6/bushel. It would take all day to pick one bushel. The older kids might have picked two in a day. This was around 1971/72 in WNY.
The peas picking was leaning over the whole time. It killed your back.
Another produce to pick in June was strawberries. You would get $.25/quart. Another backbreaking leaning over the whole time because they grow so close to the ground. As opposed to picking blueberries. Most of the time you were standing mostly upright.
However, it is tough to drink them out of the bottle with the sulfates preservatives in them. The house wine in ANY place in Italy is so much better.
Just got back from ten days in Italy. A good bottle of wine goes for maybe 6 to 8 euros. The same in the US goes for 14 to 15 dollars.
I can get a good bottle of wine for 5 bucks at Walmart............😏
“ and an increase in cheaper imports.”
I bet these same people let their TDS oppose tariffs too.
EC
Pick a little here,,,, Pick a little there
and sometime down the road you can enjoy a
bite or two after all the processing is done.
Agreed.
“Gen X, Y, Z don’t much care for wine”
my young friends all sip on clear, flavored alcoholic soda pop ... Zima, eat your heart out!
Yeah prisoners could use the fresh air and sun shine.
i also suspect that “legal” super high grade pot [esp. in concentrated, edible forms] is now cheaply available in many places that the youngsters would rather get high on that than expensive aged wine and brown booze that can cause awful hangovers ...
I’ve gone from drinking cabernet to merlot and now shiraz.
It’s rare to get a good bottle of low-priced cabernet.
Low-priced merlot used to be reliable, but no longer.
I don’t seem to get as much tannin in the wines as I did in the past.
At least you won’t turn into a Mummy............
That definitely is apart of it..............
the super low grade surplus wine from france is shipped in sea-going tankers to be distilled into fuel ...
California wine is too expensive. no wonder consumption is down.
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