News from Jerez 23.7.12

The latest predictions for the 2012 Sherry harvest are that it will be smaller by 15% to 20% on last year - a smaller than average harvest in itself. Furthermore, it will be a couple of weeks later. The budding was late on the vines and the grapes are still very small. The absence of rain coupled with high temperatures - daytime as well as night-time - are the causes. Trebujena has suffered the most and is facing a possible 30% drop in production.

Everyone is nervous; the growers because of the delay and the low quantities, and the bodegas about the price of grapes. It will be a seller's market for grapes, and the bodegas are offering incentives to try and guarantee supplies to meet foreign demand. The cooperatives have no wine to sell to the bodegas.

With only 6,400 hectares in production, it looks unlikely that there will be enough wine to cover sales. In a situation of such uneasy balance there is no room for manoeuvre, so with a 20% reduction in the harvest, and for sales of 84,000 butts (42 million litres) against stocks of 370,000 butts, a potential shortage is calculated of some 20,000 butts. Price rises are looking likely, especially since Sherry has been so cheap for so long.