Arizona Wine Grape Market

     Wine grapes are the most profitable crop legal you can grow. This is especially true in Arizona. Here there is low supply and a growing demand. With new wineries starting up every other month, and existing wineries statewide expanding production, the grow is palpable. There are new vineyard being planted but mostly by new wineries. So any new supply is not making it to market. Some grapes prices are already reaching the high end of what California growers charge for their grapes.

     A clever move here would be to build up a quality vineyard selling grapes through contract. Lets take a non-scientific look at demand. The urban wineries are landless, so zero grapes from estate vineyards. The have stated their eagerness to use Arizona fruit, but they are unable to find grapes to purchase. These are wineries in the thick of wine consumers, mostly the Phoenix metro area, the front line in the Arizona wine movement. But they are having trouble showing off our native terroir.

     Next we have the Northern wineries, mostly locate in and around the Verde Valley. Even the largest of wineries still bring fruit in from California. The Verde Valley contains the largest vineyard in Northern and Central Arizona and still imports fruit. It also contains one of the largest wine producers, who also need to bring fruit in from California. There are also many smaller wineries hurting for fruit constantly fishing for grapes from southern vineyards.

     In the south, in our state's only AVA (American Viticulture Area) Sonoita, we have seen the risk involved with farming. They had a bad frost to start the season, and just before harvest many crops were wiped out by golf ball sized hail. The next morning most of them where on the phone to Willcox vineyards trying to buy any excess grapes available. Not only that, but some have sourced grapes from Willcox for years and are now out int he cold because of rising local and new winery venture in the Willcox area.

     Willcox, only 75 miles east of Sonoita, was unharmed by the the hail storm. This is the fast growing region, seeing more wineries staring up than vineyards. Though it has the most vineyards planted in the state so far, and most of the new vineyards as well. There a couple of reasons for this. First that land is cheaper in Willcox. It has great growing conditions for grapes, though so do the other two growing regions. The other reason it is a great location for new vineyards is a concentration of existing vineyards provide a local skilled labor force for vineyard work.

     What we have here is about 7 or 8 years before we see supply catching up with demand. It takes 3 years until the first crop off a vineyard and about a years planning and preparation to plant vineyard acreage. Figure over the next four years farmers and entrepreneurs start to sit up and take notice. Until then expect grape prices in Arizona to continue to keep parity with expensive California fruit.

Cheers