Wine Barrel Shortage
10/31/2009 - By Roger Burson
Used Wine Barrels
This harvest season barrel demand is up while barrel supplies are down. There are a number of factors playing into the barrel shortage and rising prices for used wine barrels.
With better than average rainfall and no late freezes, the 2009 growing season was near perfect for wine growing. Viticulturists saw either average or larger than average crop yields. Coming on the heels of consecutive low crop yields, California winemakers held fewer barrels in inventory from previous years going into harvest 2009. Yields cam in high for both cooler climate whites and hot climate red varietals.
Matching capacity to estimated yield
“The challenge when preparing for harvest in the cellar is to match the tonnage capacity of the winery to the crop yield,” says winemaker Adam Fortinosa, “while avoiding both the cost of carrying too much capacity or coming up short at the end of harvest with no tanks or barrels available to press into.”
With the volatile state of the economy, business owners are looking for methods to cut costs. Winemakers have the unique challenge of cutting costs in the cellar while ensuring wine quality is never compromised.
As a result, winemakers are increasingly looking to the growing used wine barrel market for high-quality, carefully-inspected used barrels of the type and vintage needed for their programs.
Meanwhile, distillers in the United States and Canada have slashed their barrel-buying programs and are holding onto older barrels normally sold on the open market in previous years. This has created a surge in demand for used wine barrels from buyers who formerly purchased barrels in the whisky barrel market. Supply and demand.
Additionally, for the first time ever the China market for wine and whisky has taken off. China has been purchasing used California wine barrels in exponentially increasing numbers during the past year, driving up prices and creating scarcity in the used barrel market.
Taking these factors into account, winemakers pre-ordered higher-quality used wine barrels from reputable California wine barrel vendors in record numbers this season. With the harvest season winding down, winemakers are finding it difficult to find high quality used barrels available to store the last gallons of juice coming in and the lack of used barrels is expected to continue at least into next harvest season.
