North Carolina 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 ago, ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

state of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. Wine has been produced in the area since the early days of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

in the 17th century. Wine growers in North Carolina were the first to cultivate a Native American grape variety, the

Scuppernong The scuppernong is a large variety of muscadine (''Vitis rotundifolia''), a species of grape native to the Southern United States. It is usually a greenish or bronze color and is similar in appearance and texture to a white grape, but rounder and ...

, which produces a sweet wine, examples of which are still being made in the state. Most wine produced in North Carolina since the year 2000 is made from ''

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 curre ...

'' grape varieties, although

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 ...

and ''

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, Co ...

'' varieties remain common.

History of wineries in North Carolina

In the mid-19th Century, there were some 25 wineries in North Carolina, with extensive independent vineyards, to such an extent that North Carolina dominated the national market for American wines at the time. The ''

'' grape was the primary source for North Carolina's 19th Century wine, as it had been for about two centuries. The

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

ended that market dominance, through damage to the industry by loss of manpower and scarce capital, as well as through revocation of winemaking licenses due to regulatory retribution following the war. Wine production began to recover in the decades after the war through the early 20th Century. However, North Carolina voted to become a dry state in 1908 and that decision, coupled with the onset of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, ended winemaking in North Carolina. Repeal in 1933, followed by the passage by North Carolina's legislature in 1935 of laws permitting winemaking, began a rebirth, but it was several decades after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

before North Carolina's wine industry would show significant growth.

Modern wine industry

North Carolina ranks tenth in both grape and wine production in the United States. The state's wine industry continues to expand, and today is one of the United States’ five most visited state destinations for wine and culinary tourism. As a point of reference, there are not many state destinations for wine tourism in the United States, so five is almost last on the list. In 2007, North Carolina contained 55 wineries and 350 vineyards. By 2011, this had grown to more than 100 wineries and more than 400 vineyards.

References

{{American wine Wine regions of the United States by state

History of wineries in North Carolina

Modern wine industry

See also

References