Area farmers wrap up 2020 harvest season with improved markets, but yields aren't the record-breakers they'd hoped to have when crops were assessed in early August.
Gallo Vineyards has sued Long Meadow Ranch Wine Estates over the St. Helena-based producerâs alleged inability to fulfill its end of a two-year grape contract, according to a complaint filed at the end of January in Napa County Superior Court.
This lawsuit marks the second time Gallo Vineyards, a subsidiary of the worldâs largest winery E & J Gallo Winery, has taken legal action against Long Meadow Ranch Wine Estates. It previously sued the winery in September, Wine Business reported, over non-payment for grapes harvested and delivered in 2019. That lawsuit was âdismissed over a technicality,â according to Wine Business.
Itâs been a difficult year for wine grape producers in Napa Valley, data from the Silicon Valley Bankâs annual state of the industry report confirms.
More than 55% of the reportâs Napa Valley respondents described a wine grape harvest of âbelow averageâ or âpoorâ quality, according to the report, which was released Wednesday morning. Nearly 75% of those same respondents said their crop yield â the amount of wine grapes produced and deemed acceptable for harvest â was lower than average or even their lowest ever, the report shows.
Thatâs due almost entirely to the two destructive wildfires that ravaged Napa County in 2020 â especially the Glass Fire, smoke from which purportedly leeched into much of the countyâs wine grape crop this year. The impact of that sudden drop in production because of smoke taint was cushioned by an existing oversupply in the wine and grape market, according to Rob McMillan, founder and executive v