Wine or Sugar

By the looks of things I need to shift my interest from sugar to grapes!


Record grape crush raises price worriesCelia Lamb
California winegrape processors crushed a record quantity of grapes last year. The 2005 total, 4.3 million tons, stomped the 2004 crush by 19 percent, the California Agricultural Statistics Service reported today.
Benign weather helped growers produced a bountiful grape crop last year. Crushing operations took more red and white wine varieties, up 35 and 34 percent respectively, and cut back on less-desirable raisin varieties by 36 percent. The table grape squeeze was down 6 percent.
Chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon made up nearly 30 percent of the crush.
Despite the plentiful supply, the average price in California rose by 1 percent for red winegrapes and 3 percent for white varieties, reaching the highest levels since 2001. Growers worry that the bumper crop will lower prices for this year's harvest.
Winegrapes from the Sierra foothills sold for an average of $1,093 per ton, compared to $529 in the Delta and $427 in other parts of southern Sacramento and northern San Joaquin counties. Those were bargains compared to the state's better-known growing regions. In Napa County, the average was $2,887 a ton for grapes that weren't grown at the winery where they'll be bottled; one variety went for more than $5,000 a ton.
In the region which includes Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, a ton went for an average of $1,028.29. In the Monterey region, the average price was $979.04.
Statewide, prices for raisin and table grapes plummeted by 18 percent and 39 percent, respectively.