When life gives you lemons you should simply make lemonade. Faced with a sluggish wine market, some California growers of nonpremium wine grapes might likewise be well-advised to make grape juice, according to two UC Davis agricultural economists. In a recently released report analyzing the need for new products in the wine grape industry, Dale Heien, a professor of agricultural economics, and graduate student Ray Venner found that there is a healthy market potential for grape-juice concentrate made from wine grapes. The study was prompted by a decadelong decline in the market for wine grapes grown in the San Joaquin Valley. That slump is attributed to tax increases on wine and to a shift in consumer preference toward the premium varietal wines made from grapes grown in the Napa Valley and other coastal areas. While the wine market is waning, the grape juice concentrate market is experiencing renewed vigor, according to Heien. "There is a growing and dynamic market for grape-juice concentrate as part of the worldwide market for natural fruit juice beverages and other products," he says. Since it contains only fructose, a natural sweetener, foods and beverages made with grape-juice concentrate can be labeled "sugar free," notes Heien.