Extreme weather results in 4% drop in California wine production

California”™s wine country is facing an existential crisis due to the erratic weather that has impacted the Napa and Sonoma valleys.

According to a Bloomberg report, this year”™s grape wine season began with a deep frost that was followed by drought and heat. As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting this year”™s state”™s wine-grape production will decline by roughly 4% this year to 3.5 million tons and down 18% from the 2018 peak of 4.29 million tons.

“A significant freeze used to be something we”™d talk about every four years,” said Karissa Kruse, president of the Sonoma County Winegrowers in Santa Rosa, California. “Now, we are dealing with frost, flood and heat events in the span of every two months.”