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Supreme Court decision on out of state direct wine shipments
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» May 17, 2005 «

Court rules for consumers

Consumers are the big beneficiaries of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that declares bans on out of state wine shipments unconstitutional. The ruling will allow consumers to have wine shipped directly from wineries. Small and medium size California wineries will now be able to ship wine to consumers who enjoyed the taste of the samples at wineries and want to purchase additional wine directly from the winery. Larger wineries have their own distribution systems.

Citrus shipments rejected

Two shipments of Texas grown citrus fruit were turned back at the California and Arizona border inspection stations after live Mexican fruit fly larvae were found in the fruit. Federal investigations are underway to determine how the infected fruit managed to escape detection. Mexican fruit flies exist in several Texas growing areas, but all fruit shipped from those locations must be treated. The shipments had the necessary certificates, but also contained the live larvae.

Melon crop is late

Cool weather is slowing the growth of the melon crop in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. One grower says last year at this time his plants had vines 12 to 14 inches long, compared to no vines this year. Warm weather is the only solution. Consumers will find melons from off shore and Southern California in retail stores. One Central Valley farmer has leased land in Imperial County to grow watermelons in time for the Fourth of July market.

Rain shrinks apricot crop

What promised to be a bumper crop of apricots now is just an average size. That's the result of rain and hail damage to orchards in the southern San Joaquin Valley. The California Fresh Apricot Council says the fruit in the northern areas of the valley was not far enough along in the ripening stage to be affected by earlier rain. However, farmers are apprehensive about precipitation predictions for this week, as the fruit is now vulnerable to rain damage.