Coachella Valley grape shipments start soon, kicking off the domestic grape season for the United States.
Nestled just outside of Palm Springs are California’s first grape shipments each year. Coachella Valley grape loadings will get underway in early May, but it will be at least mid May, if not a little later before there is good volume.
In its prime, the Coachella Valley routinely shipped in excess of 10 million cartons per season. Even a decade ago, volume ranged from 7 million to 9 million cartons for the season. Today, 4 million to 5 million cartons is more typical as acreage has declined over the years for a variety of reasons, with nothing being a greater factor than soaring real estate prices for both commercial and residential demands. But that decline may have reached a plateau, according to some. There are now fewer, but larger growing/shipping operations and new varieties of grapes are being introduced to make the Coachella Valley more competitive, especially with Mexican grapes. The latter now has production about double or more what Coachella used to have in its heyday.
The two regions have very similar grape seasons, although Mexico typically starts shipping a few days to a week or so earlier than Coachella. Both Coachella and Mexico serve as a bridge from the end of the imported Chilean grape season and when Arvin District grapes (Bakersfield) gets underway in late June. Arvin and other production areas in the San Joaquin Valley provide the vast majority of California grape shipments.
There still remain a number of old time, well established grape shippers either based in the Coachella Valley, or which have operations there. For example, there is Anthony Vineyards, Inc., Sun World International LLC.; and Stevco, all in Coachella; Richard Bagdasarian, Inc., and Tudor Ranch, Inc., are both in Mecca.