Preliminary report puts numbers to Napa County wine's recovery following 2020 vintage

Napa Valley Register / 2-12-22

Napa County’s wine industry crushed just over 117,000 tons of grapes in 2021, according to a preliminary crush report from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, although the results are more nuanced than one would think.

An 18.5 percent increase from 2020’s crush at 99,307.9 tons, the results of the report indicate Napa County’s recovery from that disappointing, smoke-tainted vintage, although this assessment in itself isn’t very telling.

While Napa’s prices remained the highest in the state at an average price of $6,090.55 per ton, and the statewide tonnage increased only by 8.7 percent from the 2020 crush, officials say this isn’t necessarily due to changes in demand, but rather a rebalancing of the market.

SNIP

The report reflected an increase of 32.5 percent in the average price per ton of Napa County grapes since 2020, but considering this was after the number fell over 20 percent following 2019, this is more of a sigh of relief than a cause for celebration.

https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/preliminary-crush-report-puts-numbers-to-napa-county-wine-s-recovery-following-2020-vintage/article_844d0bd5-e2a2-56fd-9d2d-aae071b4e090.html



Encouraging news for the Napa Valley wine industry. While its hard to fathom that producers charging anywhere from $50 to $150 (or more) for certain varieties could be in financial crisis, many (mostly smaller family-owned wineries) in fact are. Besides losing a lot of their biggest money maker Cabernet Sauvignon crop to smoke taint, tasting room visits and sales, a critical revenue stream for small wineries, took a huge hit from the pandemic.