Grape Data Tool Updated
Hi all, Yup, haven't updated this site for a very long time. With all the angst in the vineyard world, work has been busy. Which is also why my Grape Data Tool update has been delayed. But I finished up today and sent it out to my mailing list. If you haven't used it before, 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 der
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
Quick Take on the Latest Acreage Numbers
The recently-released Acreage Report indicates a 20% increase in non-bearing acreage over last year. That is possibly an enormous jump in supply. But it isn't unexpected. Assuming that acreage is reported in its second leaf, it was planted in 2017. Anyone planting in 2017 had seen prices rise an average of over 3.5% since the start of the Great Recession in 2007. That's a significant outpacing of inflation. For coastal regions, the numbers were even more impressive. It'
The 2018 Acreage Report is Out
Download the USDA-NASS Grape Acreage Report right here. #acreage #data #nass
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
Are We Hiring into a Industry-Wide Downturn?
This month’s issue of Wine Business Monthly has a lot of useful information in it. A lot of talk of headwinds up ahead for the wine industry, along with some justifiable “yes, but stay calm”-type of advice. For regular readers of this blog, you know that I've been worried for a long time that 2019 would signal a cyclical downturn for grape growers and that, more recently, I've come to believe we're headed into a recession and an industry-wide slump. Which is why I was also
The Three Horsemen of the Grapepocalypse, Part 4: A Survival Guide
Well, I’ve thrown a lot out at you in this series of blog posts. The grape market cycle might be grinding to a halt! A recession is coming
The Three Horsemen of the Grapepocalypse, Part 2: The Coming Recession
Three weeks ago, I posted my first installment of this series about the coming Grapepocalypse, which discussed the effects of the changing grape market cycle. I promised some more doom and gloom, but it took me a bit to get this article out. Unfortunately, both of my young children fell ill and in the 4th incident in 15 months of PG&E equipment failure on my homestead, my computer was fried, among other damage done. So, I apologize for the delay. Of course, there is no bett
The Three Horsemen of the Grapepocalypse, Part 1: Revenge of the Grape Market Cycle
Lately, there has been a lot of talk about how we’re due to see a downturn in the wine market. As those of you who have gotten a glass of wine with me anytime since 2012 probably know, I’ve been predicting a peak in wine grape prices in 2018. Over the past 6 years, I’ve refined and softened that prediction. We have not seen over-planting on the same scale as we have in past grape market cycles. In 2017, I changed my tune a bit to state that (a) the peak will occur in 2018/
Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon by Price Level
A little bit ago, I posted a new Grape Data Tool tutorial video that showed how to use the tool to evaluate Cabernet Sauvignon in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma and Napa Counties by price level. In a previous blog post, I posted some findings on Mendocino County Cabernet Sauvignon. I promised to post some of the findings on the other three counties soon after. I realized that I over-booked some client projects, so I've been slow on getting to this, but today I'll examine high-end
