Viticulture in Arkansas

Arkansas
Official name:	State of Arkansas
Appellation type:	State
Year of establishment:	1836
Country:	United States
Sub-regions:	Altus AVA , Arkansas Mountain AVA , Ozark Mountain AVA
Recognized cultivation area:	137,733 km² (53,179 sq mi )
Grape varieties:	Cabernet Sauvignon , Catawba , Chardonnay , Concord , Edelweiss , Merlot , Müller-Thurgau , Muscadine , Niagara , Norton , Scheurebe , Seyval Blanc , Verdelet , Vidal Blanc , Vignoles
Number of wineries:	6th

Viticulture in Arkansas refers to viticulture in the American state of Arkansas . Under U.S. law, every state and county is a protected designation of origin and does not need to be recognized as such by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives .

Only six wineries cultivate the vineyards in the state, which nevertheless has three sub-regions, the so-called American Viticultural Area (AVA for short). Alcohol prohibition has not yet been lifted in almost 50 percent of the counties, the administrative districts .

Arkansas is characterized by a humid, temperate subtropical climate that is bordered by the humid continental climate of the northern highlands. Even if the state does not border directly on the Gulf of Mexico , it is close enough to its climatic sphere of influence. In general, the climate is determined by very hot and humid summers and dry and mild winters. In Little Rock , for example, the average summer temperatures are around 32 ° C and those of winter around 10 ° C. The annual rainfall is between 1000 and 1500 mm, with local variations, although it is somewhat drier in the south than in the north. Snowfalls are quite common, but not very productive with an average of 13 cm.

Due to the partly humid climate, there is a significant proportion of French hybrid vines that have good resistance to fungal diseases (e.g. Vidal Blanc, ...) and autochthonous descendants of American wild vines.

In addition , Elmer Swenson specifically bred new grape varieties that defy winter temperatures and, due to early ripeness , can build up sufficiently high must weights within the shortened vegetation period .

See also

• Viticulture in the United States

literature

• André Dominé (Ed.): Wine . Tandem Verlag, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-4344-1 .
• Bruce Cass, Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Companion to the Wine of North America . Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2000, ISBN 0-19-860114-X .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Appellation America (2007). "Arkansas: Appellation Description" . Last access to this page on October 19, 2008.