Viticulture in the United States
The United States has become a leader in the international wine market in a relatively short period of time. A real wine boom started in the 1970s. The USA has been one of the world's most important wine-growing countries for several decades. According to statistics from the International Organization for Vine and Wine (OIV) , in 2015 the USA took 4th place worldwide in terms of the amount produced in hectoliters after France , Italy and Spain . The production amounts to around 20-30 million hectoliters of wine per year. Over 419,000 hectares are cultivated with vines. This means 5th place worldwide.
The wines produced from internationally known red and white grape varieties are among the best in the world. Viticulture in the USA took place and is mainly taking place in California . The wines from Napa Valley , Sonoma Valley , Santa Cruz and Mendocino, for example , take top positions in international comparative samples.
Up-and-coming wine-growing regions are also Oregon and Washington : For Pinot Noir , a grape variety that makes less stringent demands on the climate than z. B. the Cabernet Sauvignon , Oregon has already developed into the secret challenger of its large southern neighbor California. The climate there is still mild despite its northern location. 25 out of 50 states now have one or more American Viticultural Areas (AVA). These are defined, precisely defined designations of origin for wine.
History of viticulture in the USA
The beginnings go back to the 16th century. Huguenots planted the first vineyards in 1562 near Jacksonville , Florida . However, the actual viticulture began 200 years later:
In 1769, Junipero Serra, a Franciscan friar from Mexico , introduced settlers from Mexico to the area now known as San Diego . The gold rush of the middle of the 19th century changed the northern part of California for good. Immigrants from France , Italy , Germany , England and other countries were attracted, settled the country and also brought viticulture expertise with them to California.
With the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, among other things, the Californian wines were quickly spread in the east of America and later in many European countries. The proclamation of Prohibition brought the entire American wine industry a severe setback in 1919. By the end of Prohibition in 1933, most of the vineyards were cleared and planted with table grapes.
Few commercial wine producers survived Prohibition by making wine for religious purposes. Due to the global economic crisis and the Second World War , it took until the end of the 1940s for the establishment of the wine industry to get underway again.
On May 24, 1976, the British wine merchant Steven Spurrier organized a blind tasting of top wines from France and the USA by experienced French wine critics in Paris . In this tasting, known as the Paris Wine Jury, the US wines performed better than the French in terms of both red and white wines.
In recent years, European wineries and wine producers have increasingly bought into the Californian wine market. Winemakers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and many other countries are involved in the California wine industry.
Wine-growing countries of the USA
There is now wine production in all states in the USA, even in southern Alaska and Hawaii .
The five states with the largest amounts of hl produced are: California, Washington, New York, Pennsylvania, and Oregon. In 2015 the production was distributed as follows:
Country | Production (gal) | Production (hl) | Production (%) |
---|---|---|---|
Alabama | 42,656 | 1,615 | 0.006% |
Arizona | 198,746 | 7,523 | 0.026% |
California | 638.173.762 | 24.157.505 | 83.108% |
Colorado | 449,679 | 17,022 | 0.059% |
Connecticut | 168,896 | 6,393 | 0.022% |
Florida | 1,838,211 | 69,584 | 0.239% |
Georgia | 222.351 | 8,417 | 0.029% |
Idaho | 576,645 | 21,828 | 0.075% |
Illinois | 361.234 | 13,674 | 0.047% |
Indiana | 1.160.119 | 43,915 | 0.151% |
Iowa | 253.137 | 9,582 | 0.033% |
Kansas | 85.038 | 3,219 | 0.011% |
Kentucky | 1,643,376 | 62.209 | 0.214% |
Louisiana | 30,763 | 1,165 | 0.004% |
Maine | 81.203 | 3,074 | 0.011% |
Maryland | 476.421 | 18,034 | 0.062% |
Massachusetts | 697.196 | 26,392 | 0.091% |
Michigan | 2,064,168 | 78.137 | 0.269% |
Minnesota | 370.093 | 14,010 | 0.048% |
Missouri | 1,134,126 | 42,931 | 0.148% |
Montana | 38,741 | 1,467 | 0.005% |
Nebraska | 90.261 | 3,417 | 0.012% |
New Hampshire | 136,270 | 5,158 | 0.018% |
New Jersey | 1,492,655 | 56.503 | 0.194% |
New Mexico | 737.645 | 27,923 | 0.096% |
new York | 30,707,698 | 1,162,413 | 3.999% |
North Carolina | 1,538,218 | 58,228 | 0.200% |
Ohio | 5,716,702 | 216.401 | 0.744% |
Oklahoma | 69,309 | 2,624 | 0.009% |
Oregon | 13,379,563 | 506.472 | 1.742% |
Pennsylvania | 15,513,532 | 587.251 | 2.020% |
South carolina | 28,931 | 1,095 | 0.004% |
South Dakota | 85,720 | 3,245 | 0.011% |
Tennessee | 1,646,831 | 62,339 | 0.214% |
Texas | 1,424,362 | 53,918 | 0.185% |
Vermont | 3,255,902 | 123.249 | 0.424% |
Virginia | 1,962,099 | 74,274 | 0.256% |
Washington | 38.730.324 | 1,466,102 | 5.044% |
West Virginia | 24.214 | 917 | 0.003% |
Wisconsin | 1,019,377 | 38,588 | 0.133% |
other | 258.901 | 9,800 | 0.034% |
total | 767.885.075 | 29,067,612 | 100% |
Grape varieties
Red grape varieties
- Barbera
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Cabernet Franc
- Carignan
- Chancellor
- Gamay
- Amay
- Grenache
- Merlot
- Pinot noir
- Rubired
- Sangiovese
- Shiraz (Syrah)
- Zinfandel
White grape varieties
Predicates and legal regulations
- In the USA, as in most wine-growing regions, there is no system of quality levels depending on the must weight .
- Qualitatively higher or lower quality designations of origin do not exist.
- There are no legal quantity limits for grape production.
- The grape variety policy is liberal.
literature
- André Dominé , Eckhard Supp , David Schwarzwälder: Wine . 1st edition. Ullmann in Tandem Verlag, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-4344-1 .
- Bruce Cass, Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Companion to the Wine of North America . 1st edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000, ISBN 0-19-860114-X .
- Thomas Pinney: A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition . University of California Press, Berkeley 1989.
Web links
- Viticulture in the United States (USA) Published by Winety.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Statistics of the OIV 2016
- ^ Denali Winery / index.html
- ↑ STATISTICAL REPORT - WINE 2015. (PDF) In: ttb.gov. Retrieved April 2, 2017 .