Here is the 2021 version of the Finger Lakes Grape Price Listing. I would like to just highlight a couple of things from this year’s list and note a small changes that we have made this year:
- Because this list is always based on buyers voluntarily submitting their prices to us, we don’t always have the prices from the exact same number of wineries each year. So when the number of prices that go into an average changes, that can make it look there is a change in price when in actuality there isn’t one. For example, the average price for Colobel is almost 25% higher this year than 2020, but this is because there is only one buyer listed for that variety this year, when there were two last year. The price from the one common buyer in both years has not changed at all, so in reality the price change is 0%.
- In these cases where the number of responses for a particular variety are different, I have highlighted the change in price in blue. I have also included the number of responses for that variety in 2020 along with 2021. The price change in blue may be due to changes in pricing from wineries as well, but I wanted to be sure to point out these differences just for transparency’s sake.
- Overall, there were only 11 varieties with average prices more than 0.5% lower than in 2020. In contrast, 39 varieties – almost 50% of those on the list – had an increase of more than 0.5% in their average price. Again, some of this is due to changes in the number of responses that we receive, but there are definitely changes in prices as well. Some of the bigger movers:
- Diamond: +10.4%
- Generic white vinifera: +9.8%
- Lemberger: +7.9%
- Concord: +4.9%
- Riesling: +4.0%
- Vidal blanc: +3.4%
- DeChaunac: -5.0%
- Rougeon: -3.9%
- Generic red hybrids: -1.7%
- Aurore: -1.6%
- Average prices increased across most of the different types of varieties (red and white native, hybrid and vinifera), with the possible exception of red hybrids. While there has been a lot of talk about the need for more red vinifera in the Finger Lakes, the average prices for most of those cultivars did not move significantly, except for Lemberger. Prices for native varieties like Concord, Diamond, Isabella and Catawba all increased to various extents as well.
