Where do you buy fresh grapes?

[Excl]

Probably a really dumb question, but I can't seem to find anywhere to get fresh grapes. I've looked around online, but most places will only sell juice or frozen musts.

I live in the Temecula, CA area, so I figured grapes would be practically sold on the streets around here, yet I wasn't able to find anything during harvest season. So I pose the question, what is the best way to find fresh wine grapes?

 

[GreginND]

Grow them.

Ok, let me stop being a smart alec and answer your question.

Since you are in Temecula near some commercial growers there may be opportunities to source grapes locally. But you'll need to establish some relationships first. Grape growers contract with wineries many months in advance so the grapes are usually already spoken for. You could make friends with a local winery and see if you can't buy a little bit off of them when they come in for harvest. Some folks have had luck posting ads on craigslist for grapes. Some times there are extra available around harvest time. You could talk to vineyard owners and see if there are any grapes to be gleaned from the vines after harvest. Or you may need to travel to some of the other grape growing areas in CA to find grapes.

Perhaps someone in CA can offer better advice for sourcing grapes there.

Best to start asking around NOW rather than wait until harvest.

 

[jswordy]

http://www.temeculawines.org/wineries-vineyards/vineyards.php

I only wish I had this abundance of growers. Contact them now to establish a relationship and learn the ropes for next season.

 

[GreginND]

I would add if there are any local home winemaking groups, they may already have made arrangements with local vineyards to source grapes for their members. Maybe your local home-brew store has more information and contacts.

 

[Turock]

Also, here's another idea. If you get to know some of the winery owners, they might even be willing to give you the skins off their ferments and you can do a second run with them.

We know a local winery owner and he often will throw that kind of stuff at us because he knows we can work with it pretty well. We made a second run Syrah from skins he gave us and it really turned out great. There are alot of benefits to getting to know these guys. He also gives us his old Scott Labs books,which has a lot of good info.

 

[Excl]

http://www.temeculawines.org/wineries-vineyards/vineyards.php

I only wish I had this abundance of growers. Contact them now to establish a relationship and learn the ropes for next season.

Awesome! Thanks for the link!

 

[Droc]

When I lived in San Diego we went up to temecula a couple of times a month. Most of the people in the wineries are really nice and can probably put you in touch with someone you can ask about getting some. I know from experience Churon winery has very nice people and the owner isn't in it to make a lot of money. You might have a harder time at a place like weins that will take popular wines and put them under lock and key so they can't be sold for a couple years so that they can be sold as "reserve wines". I would just go to some of the smaller places and strike up a conversation and ask. That's what I plan to do when I visit there in June.