In California, a place famous around the world for its viticulture, winemakers produced less wine last year than at any point in the last quarter century.
It’s often cheaper to let grapes rot on the vine than to harvest them because so many unsold bottles clog the shelves of storerooms and wine shops.
So on a sunny morning in Soledad, Calif., in a valley made famous by the author John Steinbeck, Jason Smith acquiesced to simple economics.
A worker unceremoniously drove a tractor and ripped out Mr. Smith’s pinot noir grapes from the ground.
Another set fire to the wooden posts that for years had propped up the vines.
And Mr. Smith leaned against his white Suburban, under the shade of a coastal oak, watching one of his pinot vineyards go up in smoke. (NYT)
Another huge industry faces a shrinking customer base.
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