OREGON
AGRICULTURAL
STATISTICS
SERVICE
1220 SW 3rd Ave., Room 1735
Portland, OR 97204

503-326-2131
1-800-338-2157
FAX: 503-326-2549
1-800-731-7011

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May 21, 1999

Frequency: Annual

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Oregon's wine industry highlights

. In 1998,102 wineries crushed 13,265 tons of grapes, 29 percent less than from the 1997 vintage and mirroring the smaller grape harvest.

. Cooperage capacity continued to grow, increasing 3 percent from the prior year.

. Sales during 1998 totaled 8 percent more than in 1997.

. Wine inventory on January 1, 1999 was up 28 percent from a year earlier, totaling over one million cases for the first time.

Inventory includes both bottled case goods and gallons of bulk storage converted to case equivalents. Grape wines from the 1997 vintage, plus fruit and berry wines made in 1997 were the most recent included. The inventory figures include bonded and tax-paid inventory, regardless of location within Oregon, owned by wineries.

Wineries reported unfilled grape crushing needs of 1,537 tons in 1998. Reported needs were: Pinot Noir, 996 tons; Merlot, 139 tons; White Riesling, 131 tons; Pinot Gris, 91 tons; Chardonnay, 39 tons; Cabernet Sauvignon, 31 tons; Gewurztraminer, 22 tons; Pinot Blanc, 22 tons; Muller Thurgau, 20 tons; Semillon, 2 tons; and all other varieties, 44 tons.

Funding for this report was provided by the Oregon Wine Advisory Board.

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Oregon wineries: Number, crush, outshipments and cooperage, by county, 1997-981/

	All wineries		Wineries crushing grapes		Wine grapes crushed		Crushed grapes shipped out of Oregon		Total cooperage
County	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998
	Number	Number	Number	Number	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	1,000 Gallons	1,000 Gallons
Douglas	7	7	7	7	869	877	120	209	215.3	256.3
Lane	7	7	7	7	2,910	1,703	54	--	599 .6	619 .0
Marion	6	6	6	6	1,548	1,358	14	--	304 .9	297 .4
Polk	14	12	14	12	2,823	1,809	--	413	480 .5	563 .3
Washington	9	9	9	9	2,147	1,225	30	--	532 .5	441 .4
Yamhill	34	33	31	32	6,084	4,044	258	--	1,425.3	1,439.5
Other Willamette Valley 2/	16	16	14	15	734	764	15	13	252 .1	299 .2
Rogue Valley 3/	12	10	10	9	1,360	1,301	--	83	403 .3	436 .9
All others 4/	6	5	5	5	194	184	--	1	64 .5	66 .5
Total	111	105	103	102	18,669	13,265	491	719	4,278.0	4,419.5

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses. 2/ Benton, Clackamas, Linn and Multnomah counties.
3/ Jackson and Josephine counties. 4/ Clatsop, Deschutes, Hood River, Tillamook and Umatilla counties.

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Oregon wineries: Crush, by type of acquisition and county, 1998 and 1997 totals1/

County	Estate grown	Purchased	Custom crush	All crush, 1998	All crush, 1997
	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons
Douglas	276	372	229	877	869
Lane	357	1,235	111	1,703	2,910
Marion	376	982	--	1,358	1,548
Polk	577	638	594	1,809	2,823
Washington	844	381	--	1,225	2,147
Yamhill	1,968	2,043	33	4,044	6,084
Other Willamette Valley 2/	332	430	2	764	734
Rogue Valley 3/	483	810	8	1,301	1,360
All others 4/	77	107	--	184	194
Total, 1998	5,290	6,998	977	13,265	--
Total, 1997	6,789	10,994	886	--	18,669

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses. 2/ Benton, Clackamas, Linn and Multnomah counties.
3/ Jackson and Josephine counties. 4/ Clatsop, Deschutes, Hood River, Tillamook and Umatilla counties.

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Oregon wineries: Crush, by variety and county, 1998 and 1997 totals1/

County	Cabernet Sauv- ignon	Char- donnay	Gewurz- traminer	Merlot	Muller Thurgau	Pinot Gris	Pinot Noir	Sauv- ignon Blanc	White Riesling	All others	All varieties
											1998	1997
	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons
Douglas	117	298	22	42	17	20	155	2	54	150	877	869
Lane	31	329	18	21	6	465	650	8	129	46	1,703	2,910
Marion	16	232	17	62	9	180	516	3	209	114	1,358	1,548
Polk	88	316	27	57	11	196	951	12	40	111	1,809	2,823
Washington	--	266	21	--	91	169	377	12	216	73	1,225	2,147
Yamhill	98	795	53	225	155	473	1,897	26	172	150	4,044	6,084
Other Willamette Valley 2/	36	128	23	42	4	63	336	--	79	53	764	734
Rogue Valley 3/	120	301	70	143	25	140	282	24	114	82	1,301	1,360
All others 4/	45	15	1	39	--	25	12	--	30	17	184	194
Total, 1998	551	2,680	252	631	318	1,731	5,176	87	1,043	796	13,265	---
Total, 1997	906	4,256	444	572	412	2,344	7,140	59	1,424	1,112	--	18,669

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Oregon wineries: Equivalent wine production, 1997-98 5/

	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases
1998	34,727	168,908	15,882	39,769	20,042	109,097	326,218	5,483	65,735	50,168	836,029	--
1997	57,101	268,235	27,983	36,050	25,966	147,731	450,000	3,718	89,748	70,084	--	1,176,618

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses. 2/ Benton, Clackamas, Linn and Multnomah counties.
3/ Jackson and Josephine counties. 4/ Clatsop, Deschutes, Hood River, Tillamook and Umatilla counties. 5/ Equivalent wine production equals tons crushed times 150 gallons per ton divided by 2.38 gallons per case.

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Oregon wineries: Crush, by origin and variety, 1997-981/

	Oregon						Grown in other states		All crush
	Estate grown		Other Oregon grown		All Oregon grown
Variety	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998
	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons
Cabernet Sauvignon	133	84	661	376	794	460	112	91	906	551
Chardonnay	1,672	1,085	2,567	1,585	4,239	2,670	17	10	4,256	2,680
Gewurztraminer	147	131	296	121	443	252	1	--	444	252
Merlot	50	25	250	354	300	379	272	252	572	631
Muller Thurgau	259	229	153	89	412	318	--	--	412	318
Pinot Blanc	72	59	97	70	169	129	--	--	169	129
Pinot Gris	908	651	1,436	1,080	2,344	1,731	--	--	2,344	1,731
Pinot Noir	2,623	2,241	4,299	2,755	6,922	4,996	218	180	7,140	5,176
Sauvignon Blanc	20	21	39	66	59	87	--	--	59	87
White Riesling	675	572	749	471	1,424	1,043	--	--	1,424	1,043
Zinfandel	8	6	170	112	178	118	--	1	178	119
All others	222	178	452	367	674	545	91	3	765	548
Total	6,789	5,282	11,169	7,446	17,958	12,728	711	537	18,669	13,265

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses.

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Oregon wineries: Crush, by use, variety and wine type, 1997-981/

	Still wines		Sparkling wines		All Uses
Variety and wine type	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998
	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons	Tons
Cabernet Sauvignon, red	612	541	--	--	612	541
Cabernet Sauvignon, blush	294	10	--	--	294	10
Chardonnay	4,029	2,289	227	391	4,256	2,680
Gewurztraminer	444	252	--	--	444	252
Merlot	572	631	--	--	572	631
Muller Thurgau	412	318	--	--	412	318
Pinot Blanc	169	129	--	--	169	129
Pinot Gris	2,344	1,731	--	--	2,344	1,731
Pinot Noir, red	7,007	5,082	87	71	7,094	5,153
Pinot Noir, blush	46	23	--	--	46	23
Sauvignon Blanc	59	87	--	--	59	87
White Riesling	1,410	1,015	14	28	1,424	1,043
Zinfandel	178	119	--	--	178	119
All Others	741	528	24	20	765	548
Total	18,317	12,755	352	510	18,669	13,265

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses.

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Oregon wineries: Inventory, by vintage, variety and wine type, January 1, 1998 & 19991/

	January 1, 1998				January 1, 1999
Variety and wine type	1996 vintage	1995 and earlier vintages	All vintages	Share of total	1997 vintage	1996 and earlier vintages	All vintages	Share of total
	Cases	Cases	Cases	Percent	Cases	Cases	Cases	Percent
Cabernet Sauvignon, red	13,934	31,061	44,995	4 .6	31,801	25,089	56,890	4 .6
Cabernet Sauvignon, blush	1,460	574	2,034	0 .2	360	250	610	0 .1
Chardonnay	135,002	63,920	198,922	20 .5	166,676	86,715	253,391	20 .3
Gewurztraminer	9,285	4,215	13,500	1 .4	18,670	3,652	22,322	1 .8
Merlot	16,350	10,218	26,568	2 .7	42,270	6,236	48,506	3 .9
Muller Thurgau	6,940	462	7,402	0 .8	12,881	1,268	14,149	1 .1
Pinot Blanc	3,876	2,990	6,866	0 .7	5,815	827	6,642	0 .5
Pinot Gris	46,694	24,592	71,286	7 .3	109,148	16,546	125,694	10 .1
Pinot Noir, red	250,109	176,615	426,724	43 .9	348,238	156,164	504,402	40 .4
Pinot Noir, blush	4,602	1,330	5,932	0 .6	2,870	3,487	6,357	0 .5
Sauvignon Blanc	3,474	7,929	11,403	1 .2	3,123	2,900	6,023	0 .5
White Riesling	42,512	18,955	61,467	6 .3	48,236	15,760	63,996	5 .1
Zinfandel	8,985	1,152	10,137	1 .1	678	945	1,623	0 .1
Other red varietals	1,750	3,815	5,565	0 .6	10,741	2,918	13,659	1 .1
Other red varietals, blush2/	--	--	--	--	2,691	--	2,691	0 .2
Other white varietal	6,717	5,101	11,818	1 .2	11,186	2,666	13,852	1 .1
Red blends	4,166	8,101	12,267	1 .3	8,642	3,690	12,332	1 .0
White blends	234	878	1,112	0 .1	7,225	1,822	9,047	0 .7
Blush blends	1,845	--	1,845	0 .2	7,959	112	8,071	0 .6
Fruit and berry wines2/	--	--	--	--	2,996	9,799	12,795	1 .0
All sparkling wines	21,027	30,874	51,901	5 .3	20,484	45,031	65,515	5 .3
Total	578,962	392,782	971,744	100 .0	862,690	385,877	1,248,567	100.0

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Oregon wineries: Equivalent inventory, by vintage, January 1,1998 & 1999 3/

	Gallons	Gallons	Gallons		Gallons	Gallons	Gallons
Total	1,377,930	934,821	2,312,751	--	2,053,202	918,387	2,971,589	--

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses.
2/ For 1998, not surveyed.
3/ Equivalent inventory equals cases times 2.38 gallons per case.

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Oregon wineries: Sales, by variety and wine type, 1997-981/

	1997		1998
Variety and wine type	Sales	Share of total	Sales	Share of total
Still wines:	Cases	Percent	Cases	Percent
Cabernet Sauvignon, red	21,421	2 .6	24,177	2 .7
Chardonnay	181,956	22 .0	174,520	19 .5
Gewurztraminer	14,674	1 .8	13,235	1 .5
Merlot2/	--	--	25,852	2 .9
Muller Thurgau	20,157	2 .4	18,182	2 .0
Pinot Blanc	4,966	0 .6	4,209	0 .5
Pinot Gris	81,634	9 .9	118,994	13 .3
Pinot Noir, red	292,213	35 .3	337,878	37 .8
Sauvignon Blanc	4,571	0 .6	4,768	0 .5
White Riesling	81,020	9 .8	88,027	9 .8
Other still wines	97,935	11 .8	70,391	7 .9
All sparkling wines	26,765	3 .2	14,153	1 .6
Total	827,312	100 .0	894,386	100 .0

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses.
2/ For 1997, not surveyed.

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Oregon wineries: Sales, by wine type and destination, 1997-981/

	Chardonnay		Pinot Gris		Pinot Noir, red		White Riesling		All grape wine
Destination	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998	1997	1998
	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases	Cases
Oregon	101,730	98,488	32,540	43,154	104,635	110,461	65,736	62,545	426,312	433,661
Washington	16,147	9,964	7,828	9,531	24,085	25,625	5,644	5,362	64,181	61,570
Other States	60,347	60,626	39,704	59,713	149,868	184,334	9,524	19,114	316,258	369,994
Exports out of U.S.:	3,732	5,442	1,562	6,596	13,625	17,458	116	1,006	20,561	29,161
Canada	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	8,689	8,947
Japan	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	676	1,397
Europe	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	6,326	7,907
Latin America & Caribbean	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	2,535
Other & undesignated	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	4,870	8,375
Total	181,956	174,520	81,634	118,994	292,213	337,878	81,020	88,027	827,312	894,386

1/ Includes estimates for incomplete responses.

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Non-grape wine summary

Eight wineries produced approximately 25,000 gallons of non-grape wines, not including hard apple cider which is taxed as a wine product. Blackberries, raspberries and loganberries were the leading fruits used for these wines. Other fruits used for wines by commercial wineries in 1998 were mainly currants, rhubarb, boysenberries and peaches. This summary includes estimates for incomplete responses.

Compiled by:
United States Department of Agriculture
Oregon Agricultural Statistics Service

Homer K. Rowley, State Statistician
Ronald F. Kriesel, Deputy State Statistician
Douglas C. Marousek, Agricultural Statistician

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Cooperating with:

Oregon Wine Advisory Board
Oregon Wine Growers Association
Oregon Department of Agriculture

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Copies of this publication are available by contacting the Oregon Agricultural Statistics Service, 1220 S.W. 3rd Ave., Room 1735, Portland, Oregon 97204-2899, (326-2131 in Portland or 1-800-338-2157). Also available on the internet at http://www.oda.stat.or.us/oass/oass.html