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Wine production in Napa County declined almost 40% in 2020, data shows. As the first wines of the vintage are released in bottle, the valleyâs producers must now assess how best to stretch the inventory they do have. Whites and roses from any given vintage are typically released by the following summer, according to Rosemary Cakebread, winemaker at Gallica Wines. Later ripening-varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon and other red wine grapes, are usually not made available to consumers for another year and a half past that â by late 2022, in the case of the 2020 vintage, she said. The nature of those release cycles give Napa Valleyâs wineries some time, but even so â those late-ripening varieties were dealt a double blow by last yearâs fire season. Anyone making Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot would have likely found themselves challenged by the wildfires, according to Cakebread, who said Gallicaâs production for 2020 is â ....
To say now is an unprecedented time for Napa Valleyâs wine industry is to repeat what is perhaps the yearâs most ubiquitous understatement. News broke in early 2020 that wine consumption had declined slightly in the United States in 2019, the first dip of its kind in a quarter-century. It came as something of a blow even to Napa Valleyâs wine industry, whose premium reputation typically insulates it from general market volatility. But the previous yearsâ harvest, in 2018, had produced a wine grape crop more than a third larger than expected across the North Bay. Of both oversupply and a slight drop in demand, a grape glut was born, depressing market prices for both bulk wine and grapes across California, according to Glenn Proctor, partner at Ciatti Company, a bulk wine and grape brokerage firm. The stateâs crush report, released early this year, listed the average price for a ton of Napa Valley grapes as close to $5,800 â a level not reflecti ....