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California farmers are struggling to sell grapes as demand for wine drops

389 points · 987 comments · randycupertino

  1. djmips · · focus · HN ↗
    Perhaps demand is going down abroad due to people eschewing US products.
    1. _spduchamp · · focus · HN ↗
      This.
      1. ltbarcly3 · · focus · HN ↗
        OMG, it's interesting to see how the average person reasons about the world.

        You have your pet theory, you, without evidence, decide that every fact you see is confirmation for that theory, so now you believe your theory even more.

        I want to say something to make you feel bad about this, but you think I'm telling you that you were right all along.

        1. alkonaut · · focus · HN ↗
          The fact that US wine declines more than other wine isn't a theory it's a fact. The reason could have several theories. One is that people are simply boycotting. This is supported by polls etc. But another would be if prices drift apart and a strong dollar makes US wine less attractive relative to (say) French and Italian wines.

          As usual the reason overall wine sales would be down e.g. 10% and US wine sales down 20% in a country will be a combination of multiple factors. My pet theory though is that at least for some countries, the boycott factor is the big one.

          1. ltbarcly3 · · focus · HN ↗
            Since all the us wine sold in canada is a tiny fraction of the dip in sales it literally can't have any real consequence. But enjoy your little theory.
            1. alkonaut · · focus · HN ↗
              What does Canada have to do with what I wrote? I described one country and it wasn't Canada. But ok, Re: US wine exports to Canada (I have no idea about what this looks like, but a quick googling found several articles).

              > "In 2025 the U.S. wine exports plummeted 33.5 percent compared to 2024, driven largely by a 76.8 percent drop to its largest market, Canada, according to new data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. In total, American wine exports fell from $1.3 billion in 2024 to $850 million this past year, a $428 million loss." [1]

              So the largest export market dropped by 3/4 which led the total exports to fall by 1/3. I don't know how that is anything but a "real consequence"?

              [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;robbreport.com&#x2F;food-drink&#x2F;wine&#x2F;us-wine-exports-fell-33-percent-1237578978&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;robbreport.com&#x2F;food-drink&#x2F;wine&#x2F;us-wine-exports-fell-...

              1. ltbarcly3 · · focus · HN ↗
                US wine sales domestically are $115 Billion per year.

                You documented a 450 million dollar drop.

                That constitutes a 0.3% reduction in sales vs the US domestic market.

                As you can see, you are completely wrong. Even if Canada stopped importing US wine completely, it would constitute about 1% of just domestic sales.

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