Drink What YOU Like TagsNYWine, TXWine, VaWine, Virginia Wine, Virginia Wine Month In early summer, I sent a ‘tweet’ that noted Virginia as the 5th largest wine (grape) producing state.  This 140-character message resulted in many back and forth emails with a friend in Texas who claimed that Texas, not Virginia, is the 5th largest wine (grape) producing state. Interestingly, another wine friend from Michigan makes the same claim for his home state.  As it turns out Pennsylvania also claims to be the 5th largest producing state.  Though the top four wine producing states – California, Washington, New York, Oregon – are rarely the subject of debate, the 5th spot seems to be a point of contention. Given my genius tendencies, I feel confident that I’m right about Virginia being the 5th largest wine grape producing state.  For clarification, I contacted the best source of Virginia wine information – the Virginia Wine Board. As it turns out, the confusion from my friends in Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and even New Jersey comes from the way the US Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) tracks grape statistics.

NASS calculates state production statistics based on total grape production, which includes table grapes.  States like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania produce a significant amount of table grapes for juices and jellies. So, in terms of ‘wine grape production‘ Virginia is the 5th largest wine producing state in the US. Questions, Comments, Complaints, Random Observations?  > History of Wine > The Top Ten Wine Producing States in 1880 as Compared to 2012 The Top Ten Wine Producing States in 1880 as Compared to 2012 In 1880 the Department of Agriculture submitted the Report Upon Statistics of Grape Culture and Wine Production in the United States.[1]  This report sought to summarize cultivation and production on a per county basis.  The report was in part driven by the decline of European wine production, particularly that of France.  It was conceded that the young American wine industry did not yet produce wine which would be received the same as the European offerings.  

However, it was noted that most Americans lived near areas of wine production, the quality of which was increasing, and perhaps could replace the imported casks of table wine.  The statistics were generated from approximately 7,500 inquiries on average production which were felt to underestimate the true levels.  For the following chart I ranked the states based on Total average wine production.  As I expected, California was by far the largest producing state.  best wine bottle cleanerI was surprised to find Missouri, Illinois, New Mexico, and Georgia highly ranked.  four seasons wine cost in indiaFor those interested at the other end, Louisiana reported 9 acres of vines and Colorado 52 acres but neither state produced any wine.  names of wine and spirits

The lowest production fell to the 262 gallons from the 55 acres of vines in Rhode Island. New Mexico       908,600 Gallons New York         584,148 Gallons North Carolina  334,701 Gallons After looking at the top ten states for 1880 I thought they should be compared to a contemporary ranking.  The ranking of states is used to different effects as noted by Frank Morgan in Is Virginia Really the 5th Largest Wine Producing State? red wine glass black backgroundand Todd Godbout’s recent Who’s #5 Trying to Unscramble State Wine Production Statistics.  best kind of wine with chickenTo produce my contemporary ranking of states I looked at the TTB Statistical Report by State – Wine for 2012.best wine room cooling system

[2]  As Todd noted the Bulk Wine Gallons By State for Still Wines includes cider production.  As I am only interested in the general differences between the last 132 years I based my table on Bottled Wine Gallons by State for Still Wines minus Cider production plus Effervescent production.  Granted this does not account for bulk sales or other factors which would surely switch up rankings after the top three. New York      33,771,681 Gallons Given the background on the two tables only California, Ohio, and New York persist from the 1880 list to the 2012 list.  California remains at the top, New York moves up, and Ohio with its similar production levels moves down in ranking.  The Washington Territory was not included in the 1880 survey but the state of Oregon was with only 126 acres of vines producing some 16,900 gallons.  It has come a long way since then!Report Upon Statistics of Grape Culture and Wine Production in the United States for 1880. [2] Statistical Report – Wine.

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