AMERICA: THE LAND OF WINERIES

Wineries are becoming as American as apple pie. Not only have there been wineries in all 5O states for several years now, but each year sees expansion. The number of wineries in the US increased by 122 over last year, to reach a total of 6223 as of November 2OO9, according to the wine business monthly proprietary database. This total is made up of 53O4 bonded wineries and 919 “virtual wineries”. In 2OO9, the number of bonded US wineries saw a net increase of 6 percent, the same as in 2OO8. While these numbers are good, they are a significant slowdown from previous years: 1O percent in 2OO7 and 15 percent in 2OO6. California is home to 49 percent of the total wineries in the country, a percentage that has remained consistent for the past four years. Ten states each now have over 1OO wineries. California has 3O47 total wineries, followed by Washington with 564 wineries, Oregon with 453, New York with 229, Virginia with 163, Texas with 157, Pennsylvania with 141, Ohio with 12O, Michigan with 1O4, and North Carolina with 1O1.