Will the USDA Fix Grape Pricing District 5?
USDA Pricing District 5 has the same borders as Solano County. The problem is that the region is really two different markets: the west and the east. As the borders are set now, the pricing indications from the Crush Report are difficult for growers to make much use of. I, along with Allied Grape Growers, recently weighed in on this debate and it looks like our efforts are getting some traction: https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/industrynews/wineindustry/10064935-181
Which Average to Use? The Cheapest Trick in Grape Price Negotiations.
I recently had the great honor of presenting to the California Association of Wine Growers at their annual summer seminar. My topic was a somewhat wide ranging discussion of how grape growers could use the Crush Report and Acreage Report to better their business decisions, negotiations and strategy. One topic I presented was the difference between median prices and mean/average prices. Grape buyers and sellers sometimes like to argue over whether they should index or price
First Grape Data Tool Update for 2018 Data
The Grape Data Tool is my most popular public resources. It distills every Acreage and Crush Report since 1991 into a single Excel workbook with a quick and easy interface. I have also added a variety of tools to make it easy to pull out a great deal of derivative data. It saves me hundreds of hours of work every year. I hope it does the same for you and increases the use of USDA data in our industry. I am also, very intermittently, creating various video case study tuto
The Crush Report is Here! Acreage Report Due Friday
So, the Crush Report dropped on April 10th, as expected in my last update on the matter. Usually I'm on top of that, as soon as it happens. Reading through it; bothering the nice folks at USDA-NASS about any suspected errors or oddities. In fact, I plan my whole work calendar around it. This year, though, the government shutdown delayed release to a period of time that I was abroad. So, now I'm still in the middle of client projects. So, I'm cutting out my typical bloggi
(Possibly) Final Update on Crush Report
Spoke to USDA-NASS today. Here are the takeaways:
As of now, the expected release date for the Crush Report is April 10th.
The preliminary
The Shutdown: A Giant Pain in the Bung Hole
I'm pretty sure I'm shouting into the void here, but to whomever reads this that has any influence over the situation: please don
Latest Update on the Crush Report
If you are a buyer or seller who needs help figuring out how to plan for the future without the Crush Report release; how to resolve payment
Update on Crush Report
For a while, I think some of the folks at USDA-NASS's Pacific Region office must have suspected they had the same guy calling in every year with questions about things like, whether the Statewide average Albarinho price was accurate or a typo. Eventually, I just made an appointment to meet with them, introduce myself and discuss methodology. I can tell you, they are a diligent and thoughtful team who do great work. The shutdown endangered our ability to get the timely price
Napa County Cabernet Sauvignon by Price Level
In a previous post, I put up a new Grape Data Tool tutorial video explaining how to use the tool to evaluate Cabernet Sauvignon prices by percentile. The tutorial focused on Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma and Napa Counties. In previous blog posts, I shared some findings on Cabernet Sauvignon from Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. This post will look at the economics of District 4 (Napa County) Cabernet Sauvignon pricing by percentile level. Sorry, by the way, to anyone who has
Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon by Price Level
In a previous post, I put up a new Grape Data Tool tutorial video explaining how to use the tool to evaluate Cabernet Sauvignon prices by percentile. The tutorial focused on Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma and Napa Counties. In previous blog posts, I shared some findings on Mendocino County Cabernet Sauvignon and Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon. This post will look at the economics of District 3 (Sonomarin) Cabernet Sauvignon pricing by percentile level. Note: I refer to District 3
