Latest statewide grape harvest report is out

While our statewide grape harvest is just under way and we'll have to wait for the overall reports on its quantity and quality, New York Agricultural Statistics (NASS) looked at 2015 relative to the four previous years. Here are the findings, as shared by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation.

Total grape acreage has remained steady at 37,000 acres, which means that variations in production are due to weather. Starting with 2011, the yield (tons) per acre and total production were: 5.08 and 188,000; 3.29 and 115,000; 5.57 and 206,000; 5.08 and 188,000; and, in 2015, 3.92 and 145,000. Prices paid per ton of grapes were inversely related to production levels, ranging from $373 in big years to $466 in lean years.

Table grapes (fresh fruit available only in the fall) account for less than 2% of total production (2,000 tons priced at $1,500 per ton, for a $3 million total value). While the price may look great, they are far more expensive to produce, harvest, and market than grapes processed into wine or grape juice.

Of the 143,000 tons processed, 35,000 (24%) went for wine at an average price per ton of $797, with 108,000 used for grape juice at $238 per ton.  The total value of all grapes grown in New York for all uses was $53,599,000, compared with $69,350,000 last year and $75,327,000 in 2013.

In other words, 2015 was a relatively lean year, though the quality was generally great. And, in
short, the New York State grape industry has three distinctly different segments -- table grapes, grape juice, and wine -- but what they all have in common is the vagaries of nature.

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