Where do your grapes come from?

[Paulie vino]

As the fall approaches I was looking at some of my local grape suppliers and was curious where they got their grapes. It seems like a lot from for the Madera area in central valley in California and some from Lodi. I remember looking at the Musto website last year and found their catalog which seemed to have grapes from many different areas. So that got me thinking about the rest of you. Where do your grapes come from?

 

[winemaker81]

My local group buys from Musto and our order form lists: Suisun, Contra Costa, and Lodi in California, and Washington state.

The overall Musto list is larger, but we make a bulk buy that's centered around the delivery date for Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot, so the list is pared down to what is available in that timeframe. It varies with each harvest, and recall in previous years there were other areas.

 

[Denden5136]

I guess I am lucky enough to be in Contra Costa county with some of my own grapes (year 3) along with local vineyards I purchase from. Suisun is also just 20 miles past the Benecia bridge. I also still have grapes at my parent's house out in the Central Valley.

As of now, we are running at least 2 weeks late along the coast. The Central Valley has been heating up and all of my grapes out there are well past Veraison.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I live in wine country and have many contacts in the industry, so much of what I get is from people I know (or people to whom they refer me). But I recently found that most wine growing regions (at least in California) have a winegrowers organization that lists grapes for sale, and that's where I found my grapes for this year. Of course, not all growers will sell in small quantities to home winemakers, but some of the 'grapes for sale' lists will indicate this up front. If not, you can always call/email - the worst they can say is no and they may have a referral for you.

Here's an example from Sonoma county.

And yes, as @Denden5136 says it seems that everything is running a few weeks late this year...

 

[winemaker81]

Finding sources willing to sell to home winemakers is tough for many in the USA. When I lived in NY, my business partner and I purchased from a couple of sources, one of which is still operating today, and we were able to buy an odd barrel of juice from a few wineries.

In the late 90's I found a couple of sources for grapes in the Winston-Salem area of NC, but wasn't happy with the grapes. In the past couple of years I've searched for sources in NC and VA, but haven't found anything. The state-wide grape growing organizations may have sales pages for winery-level purchases, but not for folks buying by the lug. I 'spose I can't blame the vineyard owners, as it's a lot less hassle to sell by the ton than by the lug.

I pay a premium for CA grapes, as they get shipped to Musto in CT, then to NC. I've considered Gino Pinto, as they have a facility on the north side of Richmond VA, but that's a 3+ hour trip in each direction. My ancient truck is fine for local trips, but I'm leery of making a long-distance trip.

 

[Greg Corey]

Does anyone have contacts in Idaho or Colorado? I live in Utah and I'm going to hit up the 5 or so vineyards in Utah this year but I'm curious about those regions that are slightly closer than California/Oregon. Is there anything in Nevada? Searching is surprisingly difficult. This is a great thread to start @Paulie vino

 

[Nebbiolo020]

Keep in mind I’m a professional winemaker so I make wine both commercially and at home as a side hobby for friends and family where I can make blends I can’t make commercially cause it doesn’t make financial sense. But I get my grapes from all over California I have a list of friends and contacts and it’s easy to get grapes as friends in the industry will usually sell me grapes for my home projects.

 

[winemaker81]

We have a new forum dedicated to fruit buy/sell:

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/forums/small-quantities-of-fruit-buy-sell-trade.133/
@Nebbiolo020, if any of your contacts have excess to sell this fall, you might make a listing for them.

 

[Nebbiolo020]

We have a new forum dedicated to fruit buy/sell:

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/forums/small-quantities-of-fruit-buy-sell-trade.133/
@Nebbiolo020, if any of your contacts have excess to sell this fall, you might make a listing for them.

I have a guy who I know with a bunch of Zinfandel which is for sale if anyone wants it. So I will go make a post about it.

 

[Pepperjack59]

I saw a post a while back that suggested checking Craigslist. Sure enough I found a relatively local source for Zinfandel in Hemet CA. Grapes not yet ready for harvesting but grower said no problem handling my request for ~200 lbs. I will need to pick myself but I guess that’s part of the fun. Hope to have my own grapes next year when I hit my 3 year mark.