(Wines&Vines) - California wine industry maintains an optimistic view, larger wineries sitting on full inventories

San Rafael, Calif.—Growers and winemakers expressed optimism in mid-July about the 2018 California wine grape harvest as bunch closure was occurring in many parts of the state. An average to above-average crop of about 4 million to 4.25 million tons was predicted by well-informed sources including the Allied Grape Growers cooperative and Ciatti & Co., grape and bulk wine brokers. 

Winemakers also liked what they saw in vineyards in terms of crop size and condition. “In terms of quality, the vines have great uniformity, and pest pressure has been very low,” said Ryan Stapleton, director of grower relations for The Family Coppola. He sources fruit for 1.6 million cases of wine. Much comes from near the winery’s Sonoma County base but also as far south as the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County and as far north as Redwood Valley in Mendocino County. “Because of that uniformity, it looks to be a really good year so far, but we’ll see what mother nature throws our way during the next several weeks.”