Don't Panic! Almonds Not Replacing Californian Winelands

(Wine-Searcher) - This week the wine press has been awash with headlines reporting that grapes are making way for almonds. However, the "California grapevines being ripped up" in the Central Valley region are largely the Thompson Seedless variety, sold mainly as raisins, table grapes and fruit cocktails. Your beloved chardonnay is quite safe.

The headlines emerged after wine brokers Ciatti emailed a report to their clients. It noted that 15,000 to 20,000 acres of grapevines were expected to be pulled out and replaced by other agricultural crops, particularly nuts. However, a broker who helped to compile the report told Wine-Searcher they were not wine grapes.

"Thompson Seedless might be getting pulled out, but then reports have tried to extrapolate that to the whole [wine] industry," explained Glenn Proctor, a partner and broker at Ciatti.

According to the California Wine Institute, the state's total wine-grape acreage hit a 10-year high in 2012, at 546,000 acres. This figure included more than 19,000 acres that had not yet produced their first crop.

"We are seeing wine grapes go back into the ground and prices are good," said Proctor. "People are reinvesting in vineyards and we have had two very large crops in California. In the short term we have plenty of supply."

Indeed, the bumper crops of 2012 and 2013 mean there's plenty of wine to go around.

"Last year's crush [in California] was over 4 million tons, so any kind of shortage we had two years ago has been satiated," stated Proctor. "Everybody's got supply; we are not short in California or in the world."