Washington wine groups are asking more growers to respond to an acreage survey this year.

The chairs of three industry groups shared a letter to growers on Oct. 24, asking them to participate this year after only a few participated last year.

“Quite frankly, we did not get enough responses to put together a comprehensive report,” said the letter signed by Dustin Tobin, chair of the Washington Winegrowers Association; Todd Newhouse, chair of the Washington State Wine Commission; and Beau Hickman, chair of the Washington Wine Institute. “This year, we strongly encourage every grower to complete this information.” 

Acreage data helps the groups and wine-related businesses to make data-driven decisions for production plans, capture changes in varieties and locations, illustrate industry trends and make crop estimates, they said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts irregular acreage surveys, but commodity groups must pay for the expensive reports and can face a turnaround time of more than a year, according to the letter.

Just like last year, the groups will include the survey as part of the wine commission’s annual Grape Report, which collects tonnage data by variety. 

This year, the acreage survey will ask for acreage by variety and American Viticultural Area, and the data will be aggregated to preserve confidentiality, according to the letter.

To participate, growers are encouraged to update their vineyard profile when they fill out the Grape Report. The wine commission plans to send additional instructions the week of Oct. 27.

—by Ross Courtney