2021 Commercial Grape Report
The 2021 Commercial Wine Grape Report was conducted on behalf of the Virginia Wine Board with management from the Virginia Vineyards Association and data collection by the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office. The VWBMO previously managed the survey from 2010-2015. The 2016-2020 reports were produced by outside agencies and should be used with caution as lower response rates resulted in decreased aggregate data points. For this reason, yearly comparisons are between 2015 and 2021 data points.
In order to increase participation in the 2021 report, updates were made to the survey methodology. The information presented in this report is based on responses from Virginia grape growers and wineries collected from two surveys. The first survey was shared digitally with all Virginia vineyards in October 2021 and remained open until February 2022, receiving responses from 374 vineyard sites. This initial survey collected details on bearing acres (planted 3+ years) and non-bearing acres (planted 1-2 years), with a minimum acreage requirement of 0.5 acres planted per variety. The second survey acted as a crush report and was shared amongst all known wine producers in Virginia. Opening in November 2021, the second survey collected online responses through February 2022 from 195 wine producers. These producers provided details on the tonnage of grapes processed at their facilities in 2021. Data collected included all varieties processed (minimum of 0.25 tons per variety), the price paid for fruit that was contracted or purchased at market, and additional fruit that was desired but not purchased. Contact information for both surveys was compiled from membership databases from the VVA, VWBMO, and Virginia Wineries Association. It is conservatively estimated that a minimum of 626 total acres are unreported from 98 vineyard non-respondents and 1,028 additional tons were processed by 102 non-responding winery operations. These estimates were calculated based on existing industry data and knowledge.
Click here for the 2021 Commercial Grape Report.
Past Commercial Grape Reports can be found here.