Overview

Wine may represent the most expensive and creative use of grapes, but it is not the only use. Eaten fresh as table grapes, dried as raisins or processed into jams, jellies and juices, grapes are thought to have been first cultivated more than 7,000 years ago near present-day Iran.

Spanish friars are credited with bringing European varieties to the United States to serve at the missions they settled across California and the southwest beginning in the 1700s. California’s climate provided ideal grape-growing conditions, and consequently it became the leading grape-growing state.

During 2010, nearly 6.9 million tons of grapes were grown commercially in the United States. California accounted for nearly 6.2 million tons, or 90 percent, of these grapes. Other top grape-growing states include Washington and New York (NASS 2011).  February 2012 ... Grapes

Marketing

• American Society for Enology & Viticulture - A scientific organization for the wine and grape industry.
• American Vineyard Foundation, Napa, California.
• California Association of Winegrape Growers
• California Table Grape Commission
• Federal Register
  • Changes in Grape Handling Requirements
  • Changes in Grading Standards
• Fresh Fruit (Apples, Pears, & Grapes): World Markets and Trade, Foreign Ag Service (FAS), USDA.
• Fresh-Market Grapes, Economic Research Service (ERS), USDA, 2007.
• Fruits and Tree Nuts, ERS, USDA.
• Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook, ERS, USDA, 2011.
• Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS), FAS, USDA, 2010.
• Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), USDA, 2011.
• Table Grapes: World Markets and Trade
• U.S. per capita food availability, ERS, USDA, 2008.

Processing/Manufacturing

• Department of Viticulture, University of California-Davis - Information on grape production and enology
• Department of Viticulture, Washington State University
• Viticulture, Iowa State University Cooperative Extension - Production guides, budgets and supplies.

Production

• Crop Profile for Grapes in Tennessee, 2008.
• Cost and Return Studies
  • California - Current Cost and Return Studies, University of California Extension Service - Collection of cost/return analysis studies for a variety of production scenarios.
  • Colorado
  • Idaho
  • Washington
• Establishment and Annual Production Costs for Washington Concord Grapes
• Expense Method of Depreciation - Vineyards, orchards and groves can qualify for the expense method of depreciation. The IRS agrees that I.R.C. §179 is available when the vineyard is placed in service even in situations where the taxpayer established the vineyard years earlier by planting the seeds and capitalizing expenses during the preproduction period. The IRS position in the past was that orchards, groves and vineyards were not able to capitalized direct and indirect costs until the vineyard became productive. Tax returns for the open tax years (generally three years back) can be amended to either make or revoke an I.R.C. §179 election. That means that taxpayers that put a vineyard, orchard or grove in service in the past three years but didn’t elect I.R.C. §179 can now do so.
• Grape, Integrated Pest Management guidelines, University of California, Davis.
• Grape Acreage Report, 2010 Crop
• Grapes Community of Practice, eXtension.
• Grapes: Organic Production, ATTRA, National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), 2006 - This guide presents organic management options for diseases, insects and weeds, discusses cultivar choices in terms of disease resistance and briefly presents marketing ideas for eastern labrusca-type grapes and organic wines.
• Growing Grapes for Home Use
• National Grape Registry
• Northwest Berry and Grape Information Network, Oregon State University - Cultural information, research, and market and trade information for grapes.
• Northwest Grapes Cost of Production Calculator
• PlantFacts, Ohio State University - This website provides a full-text search engine of all extension and academic department information from all land-grant universities in the United States. Additionally, there are significant image and video databases, a FAQ database and a glossary.
• Recent Trends in the California Wine Grape Industry; Richard Volpe, Richard Green, Dale Heien and Richard Howitt; Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics; University of California, ARE Update, 2008 - Over the last 30 years, the wine grape industry has expanded rapidly in acreage and production. As shown in this paper, growth has been driven by changes in consumer demand and has not been uniform across grape varieties or in the major growing regions.
• Sample Costs to Establish a Vineyard and Produce Winegrapes, University of California Cooperative Extension, 2010.
• Viticulture & Enology Research Center, California State University, Fresno.

Businesses/Case Studies

• Ahead of the Curve, Rodale Institute, 2005 - Phil Coturri has been growing organic wine grapes in Sonoma for 25 years, and 10 years ago helped set the trend for organic olive oil production in California.
• F. Teldeschi Winery, Healdsburg, California, 2008 - This winery, located in Sonoma County's wine country, is a family-owned business that sells 95 percent of its grapes to local wineries in the area with the remaining grapes used to produce small quantities of their high-quality wine sold throughout the world.
• Grapes, The New American Farmer, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), USDA - Describes an operation located in Washington. 
• Leaning Oaks Vineyard, Spring Branch, Texas - This vineyard yields several grape varietals: cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and zinfandel, all red grapes, and chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, both white grapes. But rather than turning it around to be bottled and sold, Fasano processes the wine into sauces and jellies, cooking out the alcohol while preserving its aroma and taste profile.
• Lodi Winegrape Commission, Lodi, California - Funded in 1991, the Commission serves to raise awareness of the Lodi - Woodbridge winegrape production region among the wine trade, the press and consumers and to provide growers with information, materials, education and strategies directed at profit improvement.
• National Grape Cooperative - Growing for Welch’s juice.
• National Grape Cooperative Association, Ag Marketing Resource Center, 2003 - Jack Kaplan, an entrepreneur, purchased a small grape processing facility in 1933 from some investment bankers in Brocton, New York, and called his new company National Grape Corporation.
• Navarro Vineyards California - Source of varietal grape juices and verjus.
• Northern Vineyard Winery, Ag Marketing Resource Center, 2002.
• Northern Vineyards Winery, New Generation Cooperatives: Case Study, Illinois, Council on Food and Agricultural Research and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs.
• Sweet Water Cellars - Oklahoma source of non-alcoholic grape juices made from wine grapes and verjus, a green grape juice substituted for vinegar or lemon juice.
• Welch Foods, Inc., Ag Marketing Resource Center, 2003 - Welch Foods, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Grape Cooperative Association, Inc. (National Grape).

Links checked February 2012.