Where are all the Wineries?
Where in the U.S. do Vineyards reside besides;
California, Oregon and Washington?
More than 8,000 wineries now produce wine in
North America according to Wines & Vines,
which released the latest data at their 2014
Unified Wine & Grape Symposium.
The number of wineries in the U.S. has
continued to grow each year, even during the
recession, although the pace had slowed from
2010 through 2012.
A large majority of the wineries counted are
small; almost 6,000 produce fewer than 5,000
cases per year. Just 50 make more than 500,000
cases, a number that has dropped slightly due
to acquisitions.
Of course, California tops the list of wineries
(over 3,500), with Washington (670), Oregon
(550) and New York (310) in sequence thereof.
The North East has a good share of vineyards.
Scattered throughout the New England and Mid-
Atlantic regions, you will discover numerous
wine makers in Massachusetts, Vermont, New
York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Legitimacy for an emerging wine region such
as the American Midwest, including states as…
Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana,
comes in small steps, but over the past several
years these wineries have picked up the pace,
even winning major competitions.
Ohio alone is now approaching 150 wineries
from just 63 in 2000. At 166 and counting,
Pennsylvania is fast approaching Virginia
with the second highest @ 220, just behind
New York.
New Jersey wineries have grown almost 50
percent in the last several years to 35, and
the tiny Maryland industry is seeing a bunch
of young urban professionals buying and
converting old tobacco farms to wine grapes.
Also, a few vineyards reside in Hawaii, many
scattered through-out Texas and of course,
our share in Colorado (over 100 now), some of
the highest elevation vineyards in the world!
Many challenges face these region, weather
only being one distraction. And it only takes
one weird wine to spoil a state’s reputation
in the mind of consumers.
Most of these vineyards do their best to
create better clones, root-stocks, sites and
vineyard management like… trellising, canopy
management, dropping fruit in the summer to
make their vines stronger and remaining
clusters riper.
So why don’t you see much of these (other)
national wineries in and around our local wine
stores? Primarily due to shipping expenses and
competition with local pricing. They are
harder to get and make for a tough sell.
However, some local state wineries do sell
very well in our region.
Brad Caskey
Durango Liquor & Wine
1145 S Camino Del Rio # 101 (next to Walmart)
Durango, CO 81303
(970) 259-4900