Erica Moyer is an industry analyst with the Turrentine wine grape brokerage in Novato. She says the prices of cheaper wines won’t go up – but wines above $10 and reds from California’s north coast probably will. 

“We’re not going to see it impact the consumer that much in the $10 and below (range). It could impact the consumer…we could see some prices pop up because of the light crop in the north coast on cabernet and merlot.” 

Overall, she says the small harvest should help California’s wine industry as it deals with the effects of the recession that’s slowing sales.

The state’s annual Grape Crush Report shows that about three Million tons of wine grapes were crushed last harvest. That was down 6% from the year before. 

Last year's growing season began with a dry winter followed by extended frosts in April that reduced crop quantity in many areas of the state.