California Wine Grape Harvest Bigger Than Expected
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Sonora, CA — Grapes from the 2005 harvest are starting their journey to the bottle, tumbling onto conveyor belts up and down California.
This year, the harvest is bigger than expected. And that´s causing a few headaches but bringing tentative predictions this will be a vintage year for the multi billion-dollar industry.
State officials estimate this year´s crop will be 3.2 million tons. That´s up 15 percent from last year´s crop. The larger-than-expected crop could cause some short-term surpluses, but industry observers don´t expect the kind of glut that forced some growers to rip out vines in the early 2000s.
