Wine has been produced in theUnited States since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginningin New Mexico in 1628.[1][2][3] As of 2023, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, withCalifornia producing 80.8% of all US wine. TheNorth American continent is home to several native species ofgrape, includingVitis labrusca,Vitis riparia,Vitis rotundifolia, andVitis vulpina, but thewine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the EuropeanVitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers.[4] With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, theUnited States is the fourth-largestwine producing country in the world, afterItaly,Spain, andFrance.[5][6]
The first Europeans to explore North America, a Viking expedition from Greenland, called itVinland because of the profusion of grape vines they found. The earliest wine made in what is now the United States was produced between 1562 and 1564 byFrench Huguenot settlers fromScuppernong grapes at a settlement nearJacksonville, Florida.[5] In the earlyAmerican colonies ofVirginia andthe Carolinas, wine-making was an official goal laid out in the foundingcharters. However, settlers discovered that the wine made from the various native grapes had flavors which were unfamiliar and which they did not like.
This led to repeated efforts to grow the familiar EuropeanVitis vinifera varieties, beginning with theVirginia Company exporting French vinifera vines with Frenchvignerons toVirginia in 1619. These early plantings met with failure as native pest andvine disease ravaged the vineyards. In what would become theSouthwestern United States the Spanish Kingdoms ofLas Californias andSanta Fe de Nuevo México had missions that were planting vineyards, the traditions of which remain in the modern dayCalifornia andNew Mexico wine industries.New Mexico wine developed first in 1629 making it the oldest wine producing region in the United States,[7][8] andMission grapes were being grown forCalifornia wine by 1680.[9] In 1683,William Penn planted a vineyard of French vinifera inPennsylvania; it may have interbred with a nativeVitis labrusca vine to create thehybrid grapeAlexander. One of the first commercial wineries in the United States was founded in 1787 by Pierre Legaux in Pennsylvania. A settler inIndiana in 1806 produced wine made from the Alexander grape. Today, French-American hybrid grapes are the staples of wine production on theEast Coast of the United States.[6]
On November 21, 1799, theKentucky General Assembly passed a bill to establish a commercial vineyard and winery.[10] The vinedresser for the vineyard was John James Dufour, formerly ofVevey, Switzerland.[6] The vineyard was located overlooking the Kentucky River inJessamine County in what is known as Blue Grass country of central Kentucky. Dufour named it First Vineyard on November 5, 1798.[11] The vineyard's current address in 5800 Sugar Creek Pike,Nicholasville, Kentucky. The first wine from First Vineyard was consumed by subscribers to the vineyard at John Postelthwaite's house on March 21, 1803.[12] Two 5-gallon oak casks of wine were taken to PresidentThomas Jefferson in Washington, D. C., in February 1805.[13] The vineyard continued until 1809, when a killing freeze in May destroyed the crop and many vines. The Dufour family abandoned Kentucky, and migrated west toVevay, Indiana, a center of a Swiss-immigrant community.[14]
InCalifornia, the first major vineyard and winery was established in 1769 by theFranciscan missionaryJunípero Serra nearSan Diego. Later missionaries carried vines northward;Sonoma's first vineyard was planted around 1805.[4] California has two native grape varieties, but they make very poor quality wine. The California Wild Grape (Vitis californicus) does not produce wine-quality fruit, although it sometimes is used as rootstock for wine grape varieties.[15] The missionaries used theMission grape. (InSouth America, this grape is known ascriolla or "colonialized European".) Although aVitis vinifera variety, it is a grape of "very modest" quality.Jean-Louis Vignes was one of the early settlers to use a higher quality vinifera in his vineyard nearLos Angeles.[4]
The first winery in the United States to become commercially successful was founded inCincinnati, Ohio, in the mid-1830s byNicholas Longworth. He made asparkling wine fromCatawba grapes. By 1855, Ohio had 1500 acres in vineyards, according to travel writerFrederick Law Olmsted, who said it was more than in Missouri and Illinois, which each had 1100 acres in wine.[16] German immigrants from the late 1840s had been instrumental in building the wine industry in those states.
In the 1860s, vineyards in theOhio River Valley were attacked byblack rot. This prompted several wine-makers to move north to theFinger Lakes region of western New York. During this time, theMissouri wine industry, centered on theGerman colony inHermann, was expanding rapidly along both shores of the Missouri River west ofSt. Louis. By the end of the century, the state was second to California in wine production.[6] In the late 19th century, thephylloxera epidemic in the West andPierce's disease in the East ravaged the American wine industry.[4]
Prohibition in the United States began when the state ofMaine became the first state to go completely dry in 1846. Nationally, Prohibition was implemented after ratification by the states of theEighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, which forbade the manufacturing, sale and transport ofalcohol. Exceptions were made forsacramental wine used for religious purposes, and some wineries were able to maintain minimal production under those auspices, but most vineyards ceased operations.New Mexico was one such region, due to the region's long history of wine making and religious traditions, monks and nuns in New Mexico were able to save long-standing New Mexican sacramental and leisure wine grape lineages. Other parts of the country resorted tobootlegging, homewine-making also became common, allowed through exemptions forsacramental wines and production for home use.[17]
Following therepeal of Prohibition in 1933, operators tried to revive the American wine-making industry, which was nearly ended. Many talented wine-makers had died, vineyards had been neglected or replanted withtable grapes, and Prohibition had changed Americans' taste in wines. During theGreat Depression, consumers demanded cheap "jug wine" (so-called dago red) and sweet, fortified (high alcohol) wine. Before Prohibition, dry table wines outsold sweet wines by three to one, but afterward, the ratio of demand changed dramatically. As a result, by 1935, 81% of California's production was sweet wines. For decades, wine production was low and limited.
Leading the way to new methods of wine production was research conducted at theUniversity of California, Davis, and at some of thestate universities in New York. Faculty at the universities published reports on which varieties of grapes grew best in which regions, held seminars on wine-making techniques, consulted with grape growers and wine-makers, offered academic degrees in viticulture, and promoted the production of quality wines. In the 1970s and 1980s, success by Californian wine-makers in the northern part of the state helped to secure foreign investment from other wine-making regions, most notably theChampenois of France. Wine-makers also cultivated vineyards in Oregon and Washington, on Long Island in New York, and numerous other new locales.
Americans became more educated about wines, and increased their demand for high-quality wine. All 50 states now have some acreage in vineyard cultivation. By 2004, 668 milliongallons (25.3 million hectoliters) of wine were consumed in the United States.[18] As of 2022, the U.S. produces over 752 million gallons of wine a year, of which California produces 81%, followed by New York, Washington, and Oregon.[19] In the second decade of the 21st century, the US wine industry faces the growing challenges of competition from international exports and managing domestic regulations on interstate sales and shipment of wine.[citation needed]
There are nearly 3,000 commercial vineyards in the United States, and at least one winery in each of the 50 states.[20]
Production of wine per state in 2024 was as follows:[21]
| State | Production (gal) | Production (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 28,135 | 0.004% |
| Alaska | 166,667 | 0.027% |
| Arizona | 376,911 | 0.058% |
| Arkansas | 146,135 | 0.026% |
| California | 508,246,015 | 78.469% |
| Colorado | 685,283 | 0.105% |
| Connecticut | 155,967 | 0.024% |
| Delaware | 15,980 | 0.002% |
| Dist. of Columbia | ||
| Florida | 2,067,177 | 0.319% |
| Georgia | 488,017 | 0.079% |
| Hawaii | 19,709 | 0.003% |
| Idaho | 522,663 | 0.081% |
| Illinois | 2,022,719 | 0.312% |
| Indiana | 2,621,120 | 0.404% |
| Iowa | 186,019 | 0.029% |
| Kansas | 83,734 | 0.013% |
| Kentucky | 6,346,956 | 0.979% |
| Louisiana | 38,041 | 0.005% |
| Maine | 459,496 | 0.071% |
| Maryland | 400,462 | 0.062% |
| Massachusetts | 10,222,382 | 1.518% |
| Michigan | 5,004,494 | 0.773% |
| Minnesota | 604,195 | 0.093% |
| Mississippi | 26,708 | 0.004% |
| Missouri | 1,925,934 | 0.297% |
| Montana | 279,777 | 0.035% |
| Nebraska | 306,808 | 0.047% |
| Nevada | 5,270 | 0.001% |
| New Hampshire | 169,633 | 0.026% |
| New Jersey | 2,515,854 | 0.388% |
| New Mexico | 370,036 | 0.057% |
| New York | 27,915,784 | 4.412% |
| North Carolina | 2,361,967 | 0.366% |
| North Dakota | 22,989 | 0.002% |
| Ohio | 3,495,905 | 0.540% |
| Oklahoma | 56,493 | 0.008% |
| Oregon | 18,013,531 | 2.781% |
| Pennsylvania | 44,297,315 | 6.839% |
| Rhode Island | 73,037 | 0.010% |
| South Carolina | 153,524 | 0.020% |
| South Dakota | 35,385 | 0.005% |
| Tennessee | 292,612 | 0.045% |
| Texas | 2,169,086 | 0.335% |
| Utah | 97,707 | 0.005% |
| Vermont | 3,035,982 | 0.468% |
| Virginia | 2,503,625 | 0.386% |
| Washington | 32,373,972 | 4.290% |
| West Virginia | 33,519 | 0.004% |
| Wisconsin | 2,080,629 | 0.276% |
| Wyoming | 26,450 | 0.004% |
| Sum | 647,701,604 | 100% |
The early Americanappellation system was based on the political boundaries ofstates andcounties. In September 1978, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (nowAlcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) developed regulations to establishAmerican Viticultural Areas (AVAs) based on distinctclimate and geographical features. In June 1980, theAugusta AVA inMissouri was established as the first American Viticultural Area under the new appellation system.[22] For the sake of wine labeling purposes, the use of state and county appellations weregrandfathered in and are still used often in lieu of AVAs. There are 276 distinct AVAs designated under U.S. law as of October 2024.[23]
In order to have an AVA appear on awine label, at least 85% of the grapes used to produce the wine must have been grown in the AVA.
For a state or county appellation to appear on the wine label, 75% of the grapes used must be from that state or county. Some states have stricter requirements. For example, California requires 100% of the grapes used to be from California for a wine labeled as such, andWashington requires 95% of the grapes in a Washington wine be grown in Washington. If grapes are from two or threecontiguous counties or states, a label can have a multi-county or multi-state designation so long as the percentages used from each county or state are specified on the label.
American wine or United States is a rarely used appellation that classifies a wine made from anywhere in the United States, includingPuerto Rico andWashington, D.C. Wines with this designation are similar to theFrench winevin de table, and can not include avintage year. By law, this is the only appellation allowed for bulk winesexported to other counties.[24]
U.S. laws formerly allowed American made wines to be labeled as "AmericanBurgundy" or "Californiachampagne", even though these names arerestricted in Europe. U.S. laws required usage to include the qualifying area of origin to go with thesesemi-generic names. Other semi-generic names in the United States includeClaret,Chablis,Chianti,Madeira,Malaga,Marsala,Moselle,Port,Rhine wine,Sauternes (often spelled on U.S. wine labels asSauterne orHaut Sauterne),Sherry, andTokay.[24] The practice largely ceased in 2006 with the Wine Trade Agreement, though brands that were already using the terms can continue the practice, considered grandfathered in.[25]
For bottles labeled with avarietal, at least 75% of the grapes used to make the wine must be of that varietal. InOregon, the requirement is 90% for certain varietals, such aspinot noir. At least 95% of the wine must be from a particularvintage for that year to appear on the label. Prior to the early 1970s, all grapes had to be from the vintage year. Additionally, all labels must list thealcohol content based onpercentage by volume, state that the wine containssulfites, and carry theSurgeon General's warning aboutalcohol consumption.[26]
Following therepeal of Prohibition, theUnited States federal government allowed each state to regulate its own production and sale of alcohol. For the majority of states, this led to the development of athree-tier distribution system between the producer, wholesaler, and consumer. Depending on the state, there are some exceptions, with wineries allowed to sell directly to consumers on site at the winery or to ship wine across state lines. Some states allow interstate sales throughe-commerce. In the 2005 caseGranholm v. Heald, theSupreme Court of the United States struck down state laws that banned interstate shipments but allowed in-state sales. This Supreme Court decision meant that states could decide to allow both out-of-state wine sales and in-state sales, or ban both altogether.[27]
Convenience stores and retail stores are large distributors of wine, with over 175,000 outlets that sell wine across the United States. In addition, there are around 332,000 other locations (bars, restaurants, etc.) that sell wine, contributing to the $30+ billion in annual sales over the past three years.[28] In 2010, the average monthly per-store sales of wine jumped to nearly $12,000 from $9,084 in 2009. The averagegross margin dollars from wine increased to $3,324 from $2,616 in the year prior, withgross margin percentages up to an average 28.2 percent in 2010, versus 27 percent in 2009.[29]
As of 2024[update], the largest producers of wine in the U.S. are:[30]
