Napa Grapes Got $6,635 a Ton. The District Growing the Most: $334.
Summary
California's 2025 wine-grape crush shrank 6.1% to 2,761,914 tons, and the statewide average fell to $977.76 a ton. But the pain is almost all interior: District 13 — Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare — grew the largest share of the state's crush, 802,609 tons, at $333.73 a ton, while Napa's District 4 fruit averaged $6,635.85. The district that grows the most is paid nearly 20 times less than the one that grows the priciest.
The problem: wine demand is soft and California has too much interior grape acreage. The approvals: no one sets these prices, but processors must report every ton and price to the state. Where it goes wrong: in 2025 District 13 grew the most, 802,609 tons, at $333.73 a ton, while Napa got $6,635.85 — nearly 20 times more. How it's caught: the state's Grape Crush Report prints the gap. Nothing closes it.
The problem ·California grows more wine grapes than a soft market can absorb, and the surplus sits in the hot interior valleys planted for volume, not prestige. When demand falls, processors crush fewer tons and pay less: the 2025 season crushed 2,761,914 tons, down 6.1% from 2024, at a statewide average of $977.76 a ton, down 3.9%.
The approvals ·No government body sets a grape price; the market does. But every processor must report its tonnage and prices to the state under Section 55601.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code, and USDA and CDFA publish the result each spring as the Grape Crush Report. That mandate is why the district-by-district spread is a public record rather than a trade secret.
Where it goes wrong ·The loss is not spread evenly. In 2025 District 13 — Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and neighbors — grew the largest share of the state's crush, 802,609 tons, and averaged $333.73 a ton. Napa's District 4 fruit averaged $6,635.85, nearly 20 times as much. The district that grows the most is paid a fraction: about a third of the statewide average, while the coast holds its premium.
How it's caught ·No auditor caught this and no state program backstops it; the Grape Crush Report discloses the gap and stops there. The interior is already answering on its own — District 13 crushed about 104,611 fewer tons in 2025 than in 2024, vines pulled where the price no longer pays. The next Crush Report will measure how much further the map of who profits shrinks toward a few coastal counties.
Grows the most, paid a fraction
District 13 crushed 802,609 tons in 2025 — about 29% of the state's entire crush, more than any other district. Its $333.73 a ton is roughly a third of the $977.76 statewide average. The coast keeps its premium: Napa at $6,635.85, Sonoma and Marin (District 3) at $2,762.88.
View data as table
| District 4 · Napa | 6,635.9 | highest average price of any district, down 4.5% from 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| District 3 · Sonoma / Marin | 2,762.9 | second-highest average price, down 5.6% from 2024 |
| Statewide average | 977.8 | all varieties, all districts, down 3.9% from 2024 |
| District 13 · Madera–Fresno–Kings–Tulare | 333.7 | the district that grew the most fruit was paid a fraction — about a third of the statewide average |
The interior is pulling out
When the price stops paying, the vines come out. Statewide the crush fell 6.1% to 2,761,914 tons, and the drop is concentrated inland: District 13 crushed about 104,611 fewer tons than in 2024's 907,220⧉. The map of who still makes money on grapes is shrinking toward a few coastal counties.
View data as table
| 2024 | 907,220 | largest share of the 2024 crush, at $338.64 a ton |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 802,609 | still the largest share — about 29% of the state's entire crush — but at $333.73 a ton |
Why now
and CDFA released the 2025 Final Grape Crush Report on April 30, 2026, with final prices through January 31, 2026. No one sets a grape price — the market does — but processors must report every ton and price under Section 55601.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code, which is what turns the coast-versus-interior spread into a public record.
- In 2025 Napa (District 4) fruit averaged $6,635.85 a ton, the highest of any district; District 13 — the biggest-volume district — averaged $333.73, nearly 20 times less.
- District 13 grew the largest single share of the state's crush, 802,609 tons (about 29% of it), yet was paid roughly a third of the $977.76 statewide average price.
- The statewide crush fell 6.1% to 2,761,914 tons, and the pullback is concentrated inland: District 13 crushed about 104,611 fewer tons than in 2024.
- Nothing backstops interior returns — the Grape Crush Report, produced under Section 55601.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code, discloses the gap and stops there.
District figures are the 2025 Final Grape Crush Report's own weighted-average prices and tonnages by pricing district; District 13's price is the lowest among the state's major-volume districts. The prior-year District 13 tonnage (907,220 in 2024) is from the 2024 Final report, so the year-over-year change compares each season's own final figures. Baselines differ slightly by document: the 2024 Final report states its own 2024 statewide average as $1,009.60 on 2,961,433 tons, while the 2025 report restates 2024 as $1,016.96 on 2,942,673 tons (routine revisions); this piece uses the 2025 report's figures for every 2025 number and its stated 6.1% decline. The Internet Archive's save service returned repeated server errors (HTTP 520) for the 2025 PDF throughout research on September 27, 2026; a Wayback snapshot exists for the 2024 PDF and is linked in Sources. Both URLs are the issuer's own domain (nass.usda.gov) and were live at the time of research.
Sources(2) ▾
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Pacific Regional Office (in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture), 2025 California Grape Crush Report — Final (2026-04-30) — the 2025 statewide crush total and average price; District 4 (Napa) and District 3 (Sonoma/Marin) highest average prices; District 13's largest-share tonnage and lowest major-district average price; and the Section 55601.5 reporting mandate the report is produced under nass.usda.gov
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Pacific Regional Office (in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture), 2024 California Grape Crush Report — Final (2025-04-30) — the prior-year baseline: District 13's 2024 crush tonnage and average price, used only to measure the year-over-year change in interior crush volume nass.usda.gov · original document
Comments
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In 2025 California's wine-grape money went where it always goes. District 4 (Napa County) fruit averaged $6,635.85 a ton, the highest of any district. District 13 — Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare — grew the largest share of the state's crush and averaged $333.73. The district that grows the most is paid nearly 20 times less than the district that grows the priciest.