(WFP) - With more and more wine grape growers in the San Joaquin Valley pulling out vineyards in pursuit of more profitable uses of their land, some observers see the region’s wine industry beginning to decline.

Peterangelo Vallis, executive director of the San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association, isn’t buying it.

“Our growers absolutely have a future in wine grapes,” he says.

Long considered the backbone of California’s wine grape industry, the San Joaquin Valley produced nearly 60 percent of all wine grapes crushed by the state’s processors last year.

A portion of these grapes are sold for blending with grapes grown in the Central Coast and North Coast areas to produce wines at the higher end of the price scale. Traditionally, however, the bulk of the San Joaquin Valley production has been used to produce the so-called value wines, those selling for about $7 or less a bottle. 

In the past few years, these wines have fallen out of favor as consumers have traded up to mid- to premium-priced wines. 

This shift in demand plus increased completion from foreign wines has pushed prices for some of the varieties of grapes grown in the San Joaquin Valley below unprofitable levels for some growers.

Still, as Vallis sees it, that doesn’t necessarily portend doom and gloom for the region’s wine industry.

“San Joaquin Valley wine grape growers are positioned very strongly for the future,” he says. “The demand for wine by American consumers continues to increase, and our region offers the most sustainable area in California to produce the grapes to help meet that demand for at least the next 25 years.”

The region’s primary production advantage, he says, stems from the vast system of federal and state dams, reservoirs and canals that distribute water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to irrigate vineyards throughout the San Joaquin Valley. He contrasts this with some other areas of the state without surface water supplies where increased restrictions on use of ground water for irrigation could limit future wine grape production.

Improving the financial health of the region’s wine grape industry will require better communication between growers and wineries to better match supply with demand, Vallis says.

Currently, about 80 percent of the wine grape acreage here is being grown under contract, he notes. “Those grapes were planted for a reason,” Vallis says. “We need to harmonize the varieties of grapes that are in the ground with the types of grapes the wineries want. If wineries see consumer tastes changing, they need to let growers know far enough in advance so they can adjust their production to meet a different demand.”

A bright future for San Joaquin Valley wine grape industry also includes improving the product.