Pennsylvania 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

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The climate in Pennsylvania is mild compared to surrounding states, with the moderating effects of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

to the north and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

to the east. 119 wineries are located in all parts of the state, including five designated American Viticultural Areas. Pennsylvania is the eighth-largest wine producing state in the country. The commercial wine industry had important roots in Pennsylvania. Around 1740, the first hybrid of ''vitis vinifera'' European grapes and ''vitis labrusca'' North American grapes was discovered near Philadelphia. It was initially named

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, after the gardener who discovered it. In 1786, Frenchman Pierre 'Peter' Legaux founded the Pennsylvania Vine Company, also just outside of Philadelphia, which would become the nation's first commercial vineyard.

References

External links

Pennsylvania Wines
Pennsylvania Winery Association
PA Vine Co.
Pennsylvania Winery Guide focused on dry wines Wine regions of the United States by state {{wine-region-stub