California Grape Season Looks Fantastic

California remains the heartbeat of the U.S. grape industry, producing more than 99% of the nation’s commercially grown table grapes and setting the tone for the category’s performance each season.

At a crop value of $2.59 billion in 2024, California table grape growers harvested 91.5 million boxes of grapes, sending them to shoppers worldwide. What’s more, per capita consumption of table grapes last year in the U.S. was 10.1 pounds per person with 27.9 percent of the crop exported to 56 export markets.

The numbers are expected to be even better this year, according to Ian LeMay, president & CEO of the California Table Grape Commission.

“A great spring leading into a mild weather-wise summer has created really high-quality fruit on the vines,” LeMay said. “We had a great fruit set; the fruit has been allowed to hang on the vine and its brix level and flavor have been allowed to develop. Now, it’s up to the market to take that fruit in and get it out to customers.”

The volume looks strong as well, with estimates of more than the 91.5 million 19-pound boxes California shipped in 2024.

“It’s hard to put our finger on what that end number will be because we have a lot of months ahead of us, but we’re hoping for a long and strong California season,” LeMay said. “As of now, the expectation is we will be harvesting through at least Thanksgiving and into December and definitely having promotable volume through December and hopefully into January.”

The 2025-2026 California table grape season officially began in Southern California’s Coachella Valley in mid-May with things switching to the San Joaquin Valley in July, where it will continue harvesting table grapes for another few months.

“We had a great growing season in the sense that our winter and spring had enough rain, and we had good, mild weather,” LeMay said. “Up until about two weeks ago (Aug. 14), California’s grape growing regions had really mild summers, though these last couple of weeks, we went through our first bout of heat, which is not abnormal for the San Joaquin Valley and nothing we haven’t dealt with in the past.”

As of the end of August, the commission has seen some of the best eating fruit that it’s seen in the vineyards over a number of seasons.

Still, there are some challenges for those involved in the industry. For one, the global grape market is competitive. This year marked the Dominican Republic’s debut as a new supplier of table grapes to the U.S. market, with 16 tons of Timpson and Allison grapes arriving on the East Coast at the end of May. This milestone was the result of a multi-year partnership between Bloom Fresh and the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Agriculture to cultivate and develop table grape production on the island.

“There are other grape-growing regions around the world that are present in the market so making sure that we are talking with our retail partners and wholesalers so they understand what our availability is and the types of promotion programs that the commission can integrate into their own commercial activities is important,” LeMay said. “It’s really about staying present and having active communication with the trade. May through January, we want people to know if they want grapes, California is the place to get them.”

The California Table Grape Commission’s marketing efforts are currently aimed at bolstering preference for California table grapes by targeting consumers in the United States and also 21 critical export markets.

“California has over 80 different varieties of table grapes in our portfolio—a number of proprietary but also public varieties that continue to make up our top 15 list,” LeMay said. “Ultimately, it’s not just the variety but the quality of the grower and California is lucky in that we have many tenured multi-generational farms that have really perfected the craft of growing table grapes.”

That means the commission can promote the best black, best green and best red grapes with pride.