Grapevines are growing over more and more of California, as farmers add to their grape acreage.
That’s the word from the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the USDA, which recently issued its California grapevine report for 2013.
California’s grape acreage last year totaled 878,000 acres, up from 847,000 acres the year before. Of the total grape acreage, 820,000 were bearing, while 58,000 were non-bearing.
The wine-type grape acreage is estimated at 570,000 acres. Of the total, 525,000 acres were bearing and 45,000 were non-bearing.
The leading wine-type varieties continued to be Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Table-type grape acreage totaled 105,000 acres, up 7.1 percent from the 98,000 acres in 2012.
Acreage of raisin-type grapes totaled 203,000 acres, and Thompson Seedless continued to be the leading raisin-type variety, utilized for raisins, fresh market, concentrate and wine.
No doubt about it — California is a grape state!
