(Wines&Vines) - The weak wine grape market that has growers in the San Joaquin Valley concerned was the result of multiple factors that converged this vintage.

At a recent forum hosted by the San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association, growers heard from several experts about the market forces affecting demand for grapes from the Central Valley, which produces nearly half of California’s wine grapes. The group’s executive director, Peter Vallis, told Wines & Vines for a Nov. 20 report that growers in the southern part of the valley were very interested to hear why prices were low this year, especially for grapes on the spot market. Better returns on nuts and the apparent reduced demand for wine grapes prompted Vallis to assert the “economic viability” of wine grapes could be in doubt.

The large harvests of 2012 and 2013 have swung the industry back toward an oversupply position, and while imports this year are not expected to be as plentiful as in previous years, they continue to provide a low-cost alternative to grapes from California’s Central Valley.

Growers have always been at the whim of consumer trends, which change more quickly than vineyards can be brought into production, and Vallis said more could be done to align with trends in the marketplace. “We just need to make sure we’re planting things that have demand from the consumer,” he said.