A San Joaquin County wine grape grower had to dump his crop after his grapes were rejected due to their low sugar levels.
Brandon Sywassink has been working all year to produce the highest quality of grapes. His only customer is one winery in Lodi.
When he took his grapes to the winery, he heard the worst news a grower could ever hear: his crop was rejected.
"We had a handful of grapes, well, I might say, handful truckloads of grapes that were rejected at the winery for low bricks," Manna Ranch General Manager Brandon Sywassink said. "Bricks mean sugar content and the contracts on them were for 24 bricks. It's a pretty high number. It's a tough number to meet."
On average, his grapes came in at 23.9 bricks. They barely missed the threshold. Because of this, he was left with no choice but to dump it.
"It hurts a lot just to watch it," Sywassink shared. "I mean, I literally just dumped it out into a field that used to be a vineyard. I literally took it over to a field that used to be a vineyard and dumped it out in that field."
Twenty-five tons of grapes worth between $10,000 to $15,000 all left to rot.
"Farmers get a paycheck once a year, and we didn't get a paycheck that day," he said. "It hurts. It hurts."
This summer was moderate, which means grapes didn't have the ability to produce as much sugar. The recent rain made matters worse for the grapes still on the vine.
This doesn't just impact growers; it impacts the Lodi community as a whole.
"They're being held to very difficult standards. Simultaneously, these same wineries are bringing in millions of gallons of wine from overseas instead of purchasing these local grapes," Lodi Winegrape Commission Executive Director Stuart Spencer said. "They're just at the total mercy of these large companies that are importing the millions of gallons of wine and treating them, you know, like second-class farmers."
Spencer said the quality of the grapes this year is beautiful. The only difference is the lower sugar, meaning the wines have lower alcohol.
Both the Winegrape Commission and growers want to benefit them and the wineries and find a solution as quickly as possible.
"We have to have in place some sort of code of conduct that makes it an equal partnership because right now, the growers have no choice," Spencer said.
"Lodi is such a great, great town," Sywassink continued. "Lodi has given back to given me so much and I want to be able to give back to Lodi. That's why I want to tell people how great so many products are here, grown here, that we can all buy and help support each other."
The Winegrape Commission says over the past 40 years, the average bricks at harvest have only gone up. During summers like the one the San Joaquin Valley just experienced, it creates a major challenge to meet that standard.
In the meantime, the best customers can do to help is check the label and support local wine.
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