Usually, the grapes that grow in Garret Schaefer’s California vineyard are destined to become good wines – but not this year. Fifty acres or 400 tons of grapes were left to rot on the vineyard due to too much supply and not enough demand.
“They turn into raisins. They’ll eventually fall off,” Schaefer said.
Global wine consumption decreased by 3.5 billion bottles in 2023, according to the International Organization of Wine and Vine.
Schaefer attributes this decline to inflation. The price of a liter of wine has increased more than 13 percent in the past five years alone, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Sales were also hit this year after the World Health Organization said no level of alcohol consumption was safe for human health. And there is a generation of young people who I don’t drink alcohol as much as the baby boomers.
Brianda Gonzalez is a young consumer turn away from traditional winesaying she realized drinking it regularly wasn’t good for her.
“My dad is a bartender by trade, but he got sick a few years ago, so that meant giving up alcohol. So I went down this whole rabbit hole of non-alcoholic drinks and became fascinated with it. category,” Gonzalez said.
Its preference now is for non-alcoholic drinks, which it sells in its stores in California. Sarah Chacon and her sister Helen are among their constant stream of customers.
“I don’t drink wine. In fact, I’ve never been a big fan of wine, but I do like alternatives,” Helen Chacon said.
Sarah Chacon said she cut back on spending for “health reasons.”
In California, where 80% of the country’s wine grapes are grown, the effects have been dramatic.
For more than 50 years, Don Worley built his business around weeding diseased vines. Nowadays, producers hire him to clean their fields. Heavy machines tear row after row of vines from the ground. A tractor can clear about 30 acres in a day, Worley said.
“What did it cost this man? $20,000 an acre, maybe? Now he’s throwing it away,” Worley said.
In total, Schaefer says he uprooted 60 acres, a third of all the vineyards his family had farmed since 1894. The people who worked the land are gone, too.
“We used to have six to eight full-time employees throughout the year. Now we’re down to two,” Schaefer said.
The problem can only get worse. Experts recommend removing another 50,000 acres, or 8 percent of all remaining vineyards in California. It’s a new reality here – far more painful than just sour grapes.
Elizabeth Cook
