(Wines&Vines) - The wine grape harvest in California is expected to be around 4 million tons, nearing the record haul of 2012, according to early estimates.

Nat DiBuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers, said the group’s early estimate holds that California will record another large harvest led by a large haul in the area near Lodi, Calif.

This year’s harvest could have been much larger, DiBuduo said, but many wineries had to hold off picking and even rejected some vineyards because they didn’t have the tank space. “It could have been a lot bigger if the wineries could have taken the grapes,” he said.

Zinfandel challenges

The issue was especially acute in the North Coast, where DiBuduo estimates about 25% of the potential Zinfandel crop was either left on the vine, dropped or flat out rejected by winemakers. DiBuduo said he heard from growers that winemakers were not taking any Zinfandel from vines with red leaves. Yet he said these are the same blocks of old vine Zinfandel that wineries have eagerly purchased in past years, making him think they just didn’t have the capacity. “Overall that’s what they have been buying for years,” he said. “The vines didn’t have any more red leaves this year than last year.”

California produced 448,039 tons of Zinfandel in 2012, and the average price for the variety was $884 per ton. Zinfandel accounted for slightly more than 10% of the state’s total wine grape production, coming second only to Cabernet Sauvignon by volume, according to the state’s harvest report.