More cab than zin in California?

I was surprised to see this chart on the website of the American Association of Wine Economists. Weren’t we always told that zinfandel was the most widely planted red grape in California? Seems it’s not so anymore.

Red grape crush volume in Calif - 2016 - wine-economics.org.JPG1057×698 71.4 KB

I would guessed cab.

As to your surprise, maybe zin is more acreage planted, even though more tons of cab are crushed? I could see that — denser plantings, younger vines, higher yields. Just a guess though.

I would assume just the opposite – higher yields per acre for zinfandel.

The California numbers for 2017 show that Cabernet Sauvignon exceeds Zin in both acres (85K vs 43K) and tons crushed (602K vs 365K).

Thanks, Carole. Those show that yields per acre are slightly higher for zin, 8.5 tons/acre versus 7.1 for cab.

Follow da money, once again.

Can someone educate me on “rubired”? Is this one that goes into all the mass produced blends out there?

You win this round, sir.

Rubired is a UC Davis hybrid between Alicante Ganzin and Tinta Cao. It’s a teinturier grape and as such mainly used for coloring and for coloring extracts. As I made wine from both Alicante Bouschet (the offspring of Alicante Ganzin) and Tinta Cao last year, the varietal interests me. So far I think only Pax Mahle and Patrick Capiello’s wine brand Monte Rio Cellars have done a single varietal Rubired. Has anyone tried it?

I think this is what they use to make MegaPurple, so a little adds color vs. vinifying it.

Kind of makes you wonder where all the Zinfandel ends up…

Certainly not just in Zinfandel designated bottling.

If you look at the grocery wine isle California Cabernet is 20x the size of zin.

Think of how popular ‘red blends’ are and you’ll see where a good dose of zin ends up . . .

Cheers.

Yes and it’s also used to color grape juice.

I was googling Rubired and Ruby Cabernet and read about Olmo grapes.

Did you work with him? Pretty important contributions.

According to a couple of resources I checked quickly, Cabernet Sauvignon overtook Zinfandel as the most widely-planted red winegrape in California in the late 1990s. A surprise to me too - I would have guessed that Cab plantings passed Zin earlier than that. So if you were told that Zinfandel was the most widely-planted red winegrape here, you must have heard that a long time ago.

I was surprised by the relative positions or Merlot and Syrah. I would have been believable to me if their positions were reversed.

Syrah has a presence in higher end domestic wines, but is virtually a non-factor in commercial scale wines, especially outside of California.

Isn’t the joke that any wine the people like in a blind is most likely a Syrah, but the Cab/Pinot is the one they’ll be buying.

Syrah = no respect.

Without realizing this was a red only chart I’m thinking where is the Chardonnay? That’s got to be #1 in CA.

Good to see merlot right behind cab and zin.

Top five white and red varieties for tonnage crushed, from the 2018 California Grape Crush Report.

White varieties
Chardonnay: 712K tons
French Colombard: 306K
Pinot Gris: 276K
Muscat of Alexandria: 176K
Sauvignon Blanc: 118K
Red varieties
Cabernet Sauvignon: 680K tons
Zinfandel: 388K
Pinot Noir: 314K
Merlot: 279K
Rubired: 252K

Next highest red is Petite Sirah with 109K tons. Syrah tonnage is down significantly, to 94K - vines being pulled out or grafted over?