New York wine refers to

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

made from

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

s grown in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

state of New York. New York ranks third in grape production by volume after

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. 83% of New York's grape area is ''

Vitis labrusca ''Vitis labrusca'', the fox grape, is a species of grapevines belonging to the ''Vitis'' genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The vines are native to eastern North America and are the source of many grape cultivars, including Catawba, C ...

'' varieties (mostly

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

). The rest is split almost equally between ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curr ...

'' and

French hybrid Hybrid grapes are grape varieties that are the product of a crossing of two or more ''Vitis'' species. This is in contrast to crossings between grape varieties of the same species, typically ''Vitis vinifera'', the European grapevine. Hybrid grap ...

History

The state of New York's wine production began in the 17th century with

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

plantings in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

region. Commercial production did not begin until the 19th century. New York is home to the first bonded

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, Pleasant Valley Wine Company, located in

Hammondsport Hammondsport is a village at the south end of Keuka Lake, in Steuben County, one of the Finger Lakes of New York, United States. The Village of Hammondsport is in the Town of Urbana and is northeast of Bath. History Lazarus Hammond founded ...

. It is also home to America's oldest continuously operating winery,

Brotherhood Winery Brotherhood Winery is located in Washingtonville, New York. With its first commercial vintage produced in 1839, it is commonly acknowledged to be the oldest operating winery in the United States. In 2000 it was added to the National Register of Hi ...

in the Hudson Valley, which has been making wine for almost 175 years. In 1951

Konstantin Frank Dr. Konstantin Frank (1899–1985) was a viticulturist and pioneering winemaker of the 1950s in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Early years Frank was born in Odessa, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) and received his PhD in viticu ...

emigrated from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

to New York, to work at Cornell University's Geneva Experiment Station. Frank went on to become one of the major architects of modern Finger Lakes winemaking industry. In 2011, the New York wineries were given another boost when Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...

signed the Fine Winery Law (S.4143-a/A.7828-a) into law, allowing each farm winery to operate up to 5 tasting rooms as a single entity, rather than requiring a separate license for each. The act also streamlined the paperwork involved in direct shipping wine to customers, and allowed wineries to use custom-crush facilities or rent equipment and space from existing wineries, rather than requiring wineries to own all their equipment.

Wine grapes

The ''Vitis vinifera'' varieties account for less than 10% of the wine produced in New York. Important

American hybrid Hybrid grapes are grape varieties that are the product of a crossing of two or more ''Vitis'' species. This is in contrast to crossings between grape varieties of the same species, typically ''Vitis vinifera'', the European grapevine. Hybrid grap ...

grapes grown in New York include

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, Niagara,

Elvira Elvira is a female given name. First recorded in medieval Spain, it is likely of Germanic (Gothic) origin. Elvira may refer to: People Nobility * Elvira Menéndez (died 921), daughter of Hermenegildo Gutiérrez and wife of Ordoño II of Leó ...

Ives Ives is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: * Alice Emma Ives (1876–1930), American dramatist, journalist * Burl Ives (1909–1995), American singer, author and actor * Charles Ives (1874–1954), Amer ...

and

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...

. French hybrid grapes grown in New York include Aurore,

Baco noir Baco noir (pronounced BA-koh NWAHR) is a hybrid red wine grape variety produced by Francois Baco from a cross of ''Vitis vinifera var.'' Folle blanche, a French wine grape, and an unknown variety of ''Vitis riparia'' indigenous to North America. ...

De Chaunac De Chaunac is a French-American hybrid wine grape variety used to make red wines. It was developed by Albert Seibel c. 1860. It is also known as Seibel 9549 and is a cross of Seibel 5163 and possibly Seibel 793. The grape was named after Adhemar ...

Seyval blanc Seyval blanc (or Seyve-Villard hybrid number 5276winepros.com.au ) is a hybrid wine grape variety used to make white wines. Its vines ripen early, are productive and are suited to fairly cool climates. Seyval blanc is grown mainly in England,win ...

, Cayuga,

Vidal Vidal (, , , ) is a Catalan, Aragonese, and possibly also Romansh surname, which also appears in French, Italian, Portuguese and English, and as a given name. Vidal may refer to: Surname * Maurice Vidal Portman (1850–1935), a British doct ...

and Vignoles. Vignoles is particularly used in

late harvest wine Late harvest wine is wine made from grapes left on the vine longer than usual. ''Late harvest'' is usually an indication of a sweet dessert wine, such as late harvest Riesling. Late harvest grapes are often more similar to raisins, but have been ...

s and

ice wine Ice wine (or icewine; german: Eiswein) is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing for a more concentrated grape ...

s. Of the ''Vitis vinifera'' varieties, Riesling is noted for the most consistent and best quality wines, while wine made from Chardonnay grown in the

Finger Lakes AVA The Finger Lakes AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Upstate New York, south of Lake Ontario. It was established in 1982 and encompasses the eleven Finger Lakes, but the area around Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, and Cayuga Lakes conta ...

is noted to take on characteristics of leaner styled Burgundy white wine.

Growing regions

The state's principal winemaking regions are the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

and Long Island. The Finger Lakes wine region developed in the 19th century; the first commercial vineyard and winery on Long Island was established in 1973. New York has a total of eleven designated American Viticultural Areas: Champlain Valley AVA,

Long Island AVA The Long Island AVA is an American Viticultural Area encompassing Nassau and Suffolk counties of New York, including the smaller offshore islands in those counties. The AVA was established in 2001, over 15 years after two smaller AVAs were creat ...

, North Fork of Long Island AVA,

The Hamptons, Long Island AVA The Hamptons, Long Island AVA is an American Viticultural Area located entirely within eastern Suffolk County, New York, and includes the entire South Fork of Long Island and the townships of Southampton and East Hampton. Authored by winemak ...

;

Hudson River Region AVA The Hudson River Region AVA is an American Viticultural Area around the Hudson River in eastern New York. The region is home to the oldest continuously operating winery in North America, the Brotherhood Winery, established in 1839. The oldest c ...

;

Seneca Lake AVA The Seneca Lake AVA is an American Viticultural Area around Seneca Lake in Upstate New York. The wine appellation is entirely contained within the larger Finger Lakes AVA, and includes portions of Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, and Yates counties. ...

, Cayuga Lake AVA;

Niagara Escarpment AVA The Niagara Escarpment AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Niagara County, New York along the Niagara Escarpment. Certified by the United States Department of the Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau on October 11, 2005, it c ...

, Upper Hudson AVA and

Lake Erie AVA The Lake Erie AVA is an American Viticultural Area that includes of land on the south shore of Lake Erie in the U.S. states of Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. Over of the region are planted in grapevines, predominantly in the Concord grape v ...

. In 1976, when the Farm Winery Act was passed, the Finger Lakes and Long Island regions had 19 wineries. By 1985, there were 63 wineries in the two regions. The wine regions' soils originated from the last

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

advance which left gravel and shale type soils with heavy

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

deposits in the Finger Lakes region and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

y soil in the Long Island region. The climate differs amongst the regions based on the Atlantic Gulf Stream and the numerous bodies of water and mountainous regions around the state. The annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

ranges from to . The growing season in the Lake Erie and Finger Lakes regions ranges from 180 to 200 days a year, while on Long Island, the season extends to 220 days and the

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...

is higher, and the fall precipitation is somewhat higher as well. Statewide, there were 470 wineries in New York in 2019. The Adirondack Coast Wine Trail, established in 2014, includes seven small vineyards/wineries (under 15 acres), including one combined apple winery and

cider house A cider house is an establishment that sells alcoholic cider for consumption on the premises. Some cider houses also sell cider "to go", for consumption off the premises. A traditional cider house was often little more than a room in a farmhouse or ...

, along the Adirondack Coast in northeastern New York, between Mooers and Morrisonville.

Cultivation, production, and economic impact

A report in 2020, commissioned by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, estimated that in the preceding year, 35,000 acres in New York states are used for wine cultivation, of which 11,000 acres are for wine grapes, and most of the rest are for juice grapes. The report estimated that in 2019, the state produced approximately 57,000 tons of wine grapes valued at $37.28 million (compared to approximately 128,000 tons of juice grapes valued at $28.80 million). The report estimated that the state's wine and grape industry generated a total in $2.4 billion in federal, state, and local taxes, including business,

excise file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

, and sales taxes. A 2017 report commissioned by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation estimated that the New York wine industry supported 62,000 direct jobs paying $2.4 billion in wages. About 37% of New York produced wine was sold through wholesalers; the rest was sold by wineries in their tasting rooms, or distributed by wineries to restaurants and shops in the state.

References

External links