Central valley grape brands

Paulie vino · Sep 23, 2024

I'm on the East Coast and most of the grapes I see around here at different shops tend to be the same labels from what I believe is the central valley....Pia, California special, teaser, colavita, valley beauty, Lodi gold, etc. is there any significant difference between? Once I figure out how to make technically sound wine without flaws I'll try some more expensive grapes like lanza from suison valley.

mainshipfred · Sep 23, 2024

I tend to agree with you about the central valley grapes. Although I've made some decent wines with grapes from there I feel they are more about quantity rather than quality, or it could just be the soils and climate.
Unfortunately unless you want to pay an excessive amount for the grapes it is our only choice. Plus, and I'm sure it's not the worse thing, most of the time the grapes have been sitting in cold storage for a while waiting for enough to be harvested to allow a full truckload.
I still get west coast grapes but am fortunate enough to have resources for local Virginia grapes. I get these the day or day after they are harvested and since they are all boutique wineries I know they are picked at the best possible time. Unlike west coast grapes I can also reject them if I'm not happy with the numbers.

Rocky · Sep 23, 2024

Paulie vino said:
I'm on the East Coast and most of the grapes I see around here at different shops tend to be the same labels from what I believe is the central valley....Pia, California special, teaser, colavita, valley beauty, Lodi gold, etc. is there any significant difference between? Once I figure out how to make technically sound wine without flaws I'll try some more expensive grapes like lanza from suison valley.

I think you have a sound plan there. The Central Valley accounts for about 3/4 of the grapes produced in California. They are, for want of a better term, "commodity grade" and will give you good to very good wine while you are developing your skills. Later, you might like to try something from Napa or Sonoma, with a concomitant increase in cost.

winemaker81 · Sep 23, 2024

The CA grapes I've purchased have been decent quality, although we pay a premium to have them shipped to the east coast. The higher grade grapes, assuming they really are higher grade, as significantly more expensive.

@Paulie vino , where are you located? It helps if you put in an an approximate location in the Location field of your profile.

I'm purchasing Chambourcin, Chelois, Vidal, and Chardonnel from @VinesnBines. I haven't bottled the 2023 Chambourcin yet so I don't have a firm opinion of it, but her 2022 was very good. I have bottled my 2023 Vidal and I'm very pleased with it.

Paulie vino · Sep 23, 2024

Im on long Island NY. This will be my 3rd year making with with grapes, prior years were juice buckets. If I really wanted to and had free time, I could drive up to the finger lakes ( 5+hour drive), I could also drive to the North fork AVA which is about an hour thirty. I've seen listing of hand picked grapes out there, thinned for quality, etc. for $2600-$3000/ton which is similar to the price of the grapes I get from CA, maybe a little cheaper. I would assume these grapes are probably more cared for than the grapes in a bulk vineyard in CA so maybe they quality is better but who really knows. I also have access to Hudson valley ava and am there quite frequently, I'm sure I could find some vineyards willing to sell in small quantities. I just figured the fruit from CA would be the "best" that I can get.
What I like about the CA grapes is that there's a lot of variety. If I stay local, it's not as much variety. Pros and cons...

Rocky · Sep 23, 2024

Paulie vino said:
Im on long Island NY. This will be my 3rd year making with with grapes, prior years were juice buckets. If I really wanted to and had free time, I could drive up to the finger lakes ( 5+hour drive), I could also drive to the North fork AVA which is about an hour thirty. I've seen listing of hand picked grapes out there, thinned for quality, etc. for $2600-$3000/ton which is similar to the price of the grapes I get from CA, maybe a little cheaper. I would assume these grapes are probably more cared for than the grapes in a bulk vineyard in CA so maybe they quality is better but who really knows. I also have access to Hudson valley ava and am there quite frequently, I'm sure I could find some vineyards willing to sell in small quantities. I just figured the fruit from CA would be the "best" that I can get.
What I like about the CA grapes is that there's a lot of variety. If I stay local, it's not as much variety. Pros and cons...

Paulie, I used to live in Rochester, NY (actually a suburb called Fairport) and I had a vineyard across the street from my house (Casa Larga). At the time (going on 25 years ago), the majority of their grapes were Vidal Blanc and the wine was excellent. The growing season was not long enough for many of the red varieties but they did make a few of them. This year, however, we have had very hot and dry weather for most of the Summer and early Fall. I would imagine that you could find some very good reds in the Finger Lakes area. We were near Canandaigua which would be a haul for you, but you could do it if the amount you plan makes the trip worthwhile.