California is home to some of the world’s most renowned wine regions, including Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Lodi, making it a top global wine producer. However, the state’s wine industry is facing a significant slowdown in sales. Wineries are filled with unsold inventory and grape growers are struggling to find buyers for their grapes, even at steep discounts.
“Some of our older growers that have been farming 60 to 70 years, in some cases, say this is the worst they’ve ever seen. Last year, an estimated 400,000 tons of grapes were left on the vine in 2023 because they couldn’t sell them. It was never harvested,” says Stuart Spencer, executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission.
Join us as we look into the world of wineries in California, what’s behind this slowdown and downturn in the state’s wine industry, and how it’s impacting everyone from farmers to winemakers. Siyamak sits down with Spencer; Patrick Cappiello, winemaker at Monte Rio Cellars in Sonoma County; and Craig Ledbetter, vice president of Vino Farms.
