Support Lake County Agriculture Part I

To understand the market concerns of winegrape growers, we must first examine why Lake County is lauded for our winemaking. According to the “2022 Lake County Crop & Livestock Report” (viewable here: lakecountyca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/9752/2022-Crop-Report?bidId=) from the Lake County Department of Agriculture and Weights and Measures, winegrapes were the number one crop. What separates winegrape growers in Lake County from others is that our winegrape growers combine the latest cutting-edge technology with traditional, tried-and-true viticultural (the cultivation or culture of grapes for wine making) practices, highlighting the long-term sustainability for the environment and the region.

Lake County is also home to the innovative and unique Master Vigneron Academy, the first program of its kind in the country, created and held by the Lake County Winegrape Commission. The academy is a professional workforce development program designed specifically for experienced vineyard supervisors and foremen, and is largely taught in Spanish, creating an inclusive learning environment. To learn more about it, visit here. https://www.lakecountywinegrape.org/region/lake-county-rising/.

The current state of the wine industry is top of mind for every winegrape grower, especially for small and medium sized winegrape growers. Some concerns that they face are the following:

• Inflation, the bane of every grower, consumer and business. This affects everything from the cost of farming and production cost, shipping to the price of wine for the consumer. Land is not as affordable to purchase as it used to be in past decades, especially in prime vineyard land, which has grown at an average of 10-20%.

• Recently, there is more focus on “brand-value” than “place-value.” This means that consumers are more interested in brand name rather than where the wine was made, grown and sourced. This could lead to stripping a local winemaking community of their identity, and this affects families whose generations have grown winegrapes for centuries. Additionally, people are buying less low-cost wines, which is a huge contributor of sales to the wine industry.

• More wine is outsourced at a lower cost. Wine can be 25% outsourced (such as from competing countries as Australia, Chile or Italy) and it can still be labeled “made in the U.S.” Outsourcing hurts our domestic and local winegrape growers.

• Replanting. Grapevines don’t age well, and production can diminish after 20-30 years. This means vineyards will have to be replaced and replanted, which costs money. Consequently, this has led some winegrape growers to get rid of their vineyards, and plant alternative crops, such as almonds and pistachios. In fact, some growers are having to raze down their vineyards. This, in turn, also affects the environment by creating potential breeding grounds for pests, which, if the winegrape growers decide to try again to grow crops of any kind, will also cost money to treat and remove pests.

• Succession. As winegrape producers grow older and are getting closer to retirement age, it is becoming harder for a younger generation to succeed them, especially with rising costs.

• California’s recent periods of drought also meant that winegrape growers have had to adjust. Some have adjusted to dry farming in response, which uses less water and produces sweeter-tasting wine.

• Labor. Many laborers are immigrants, and they are essential for wine producers. Stricter immigration policies can lead to a prolonged impact on labor shortages for winegrape growers.