America\'s Wine Indusrty

17 Pages 4343 Words

AMERICA’S WINE INDUSTRY:
A GLOBAL SUCCESS
J. EDWIN DIETEL

After scarcely a generation, the US wine industry is
challenging centuries-old European wineries


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America’s winemakers, most of whom are relative newcomers to the industry, are making superior wines and reaping global acclaim. In a single generation, and at a time when many US industries can no longer claim to be world leaders, the US wine industry’s global success is a fascinating story of entrepreneurial vision and savvy marketing. It remains to be seen whether the American industry has reached its peak, or if new innovations, new competition, and new markets will make the future rosy for US vintners.

In terms of worldwide recognition and success, individual American wineries have made their mark only in the last 50-odd years. American experiments with wine-making for the past 200 years—including considerable efforts by Thomas Jefferson to replicate French grape-growing techniques at Monticello—had proved commercially unsuccessful. Not until the end of Prohibition in 1933 did the American wine industry take off on a large scale. America has now become the fourth largest producer in the world behind Italy, France, and Spain. US wine exports in 1999 were up almost threefold over 1990 levels, totaling 74 million gallons ($540 million). Quantity of production is but one measure of success of the industry. American wine producers also have become widely known for the quality of their products.

The single event that brought global recognition to the American wine industry occurred in Paris in 1976. There, in a celebrated blind tasting by nine French wine experts, American Chardonnays were compared to their celebrated French counterparts, white Burgundies, while American Cabernet Sauvignons were compared to the prestigious French first-growth red Bordeaux. The American wi...