America\'s Wine Indusrty

17 Pages 4343 Words

nes won top honors in both classes; the Chardonnays even won most of the top places. Half of the 12 American wines involved were judged better than their French counterparts by the French judges. Significantly, some of the most recognized French wine experts judging the contest could not identify which wines were French and which were American.

LITTLE GRAPES, BIG BUSINESS

This success was no fluke, but rather a reflection of the steady increase in both the production and quality of American wines. US wineries, numbering about 245 in 1973, have skyrocketed to about 1600, half of which are in California. In a testament to the ability of American soils to produce high-quality grapes, several dozen of the leading vintners from France, Germany, Italy, Australia, and other countries have invested in wineries or vineyards in the United States. Among these is a 1980 partnership between Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild, which produces premier Bordeaux-type red wines at a new winery, Opus One, in Napa Valley.

According to the San Francisco-based Wine Institute, winemaking is now a $33 billion industry in California, which produces 90 percent of America’s wines. This figure includes direct and indirect revenues from growing and harvesting the grapes, equipping the vineyards and wineries, and producing and distributing the finished products. Three out of four wine bottles sold in the United States are filled with California-made wine.

From the perspective of US vintners, the American market remains relatively small. Unlike France or Italy, where per capita wine consumption is perhaps 100-150 wine bottles per year, the annual consumption of table wine in the United States is only about 10 bottles per person. This figure, though almost twice the US consumption rate in 1968, and nearly 12 times the rate in the post-World War II years, fell off somewhat in the 1990s and is only now back up to the levels reached a decade ...