North Bay Business Journal

So here we are at half-past spring in 2013. Frost danger is just about over. Both the bulk-wine and grape markets have been active, and tonnage available on the spot market is limited. Most vineyards are reporting two clusters per shoot, as seen last year at this time.

Are we caught in a “Groundhog Day” replay of last year? Well, no, we’re not. Here are two differences.

NORTH COAST — Many wine industry experts figured the 2012 winegrape harvest was going to be the biggest in several years and refill grower pockets after two smaller crops, but the first official tally of the crop released Friday suggests it was the biggest ever, even crushing the giant 2005 harvest in value and tonnage.

When you play the slots in Vegas, you pull the handle and hope that three symbols line up. If so, bells start to ring and lights flash and money comes gushing out of the machine. Well, it is still early to tell for sure, but the great slot machine of the 2012 North Coast harvest is lining up with: good quality, good yields, good demand.

We cannot forget the most urgent game of all: the race — often a marathon — to profitability. In the end, income must break the tape before expenses, and do so by enough margin to make a decent return on investment.

What makes the Grape Games interesting is that growers must engage in all three of these races at the same time.

Excessive cold or heat, drought or disease can result in a poor crop “set,” smaller clusters and reduced crop size. For Sonoma County chardonnay this year, the main problem was wind, which can disrupt both pollination and damage the shoots.

NORTH COAST — The first official tally of the impact of the stormy 2011 winegrape season is in: North Coast vintners crushed 11.8 percent fewer tons last year than in 2010, and the value of the 2011 crop at nearly $848 million was 6.9 percent smaller than the year before, despite average per-ton prices rising 5 percent to 10 percent last year, according to preliminary state figures released today.

SANTA ROSA — The tightest inventory of top varieties of wine available for purchase in bulk in a dozen years and a dwindling supply of those winegrapes could extend the rise in pricing for those fine-wine components into this year, but wineries are hard-pressed to pass those cost increases to consumers who are continuing to look for discounts, according to experts at a major local wine industry seminar this morning.

The 2011 North Coast winegrape harvest began later and lighter than normal and even more than 2010, which suffered from some of the same early-season bad weather and cool summer conditions of this year.

I like barbecue season, and I am pretty good at the grill. If you are going to rise in the ranks of a leading wine business company, you had better be able to give quick, intelligent and insightful answers to a battery of questions on a moment’s notice. … I was momentarily dazzled by the romance of the wine business and the vision of this vineyard, bearing golden grapes which would make nectar for the gods. I resolved to never again let the romance of wine — and the exhilaration of a hot market — dampen the vigor of the advice I give clients.

Walter Eagan, a Russian River Valley appellation grower of zinfandel and chardonnay grapes east of Windsor, was surprised to get a three-year zin purchase grape contract from St. Helena-based Duckhorn Wine Co. earlier this year.

When you don’t need a cab, they are all over the place. But, when do you need a cab, they disappear — or they are all committed. I am not talking here about yellow cars in the city but about cabernet sauvignon vineyards in the North Coast.

Buried in the recently released 2010 California Grape Crush report are important considerations for North Coast winegrape growers this year.

NAPA — Vintners and growers generally look to a recovery of sales of fine wine to 2007 levels in one to two years for volume and two to three years for profits, according to a poll of 28 industry executives presented at the Wine Industry Financial Symposium this morning.

Also: ‘Sunburned’ grapes spur market; Frazier Winery files Chapter 11; Tapp expanding

Winegrape gowers already are concerned about late ripening fruit caused by the summer’s cool weather.

North Coast winegrape growers late last week were looking forward to a few warm, breezy days to dry out the remaining grapes on the vine and close out what has been a surprising, challenging season in terms of weather and economics.