The United States of America is the world’s fourth largest producer of wine and claims the world’s sixth highest acreage of land under vine.
California produces approximately 85% of all American wine, followed by Washington, New York, and Oregon. Compared with traditional wine-producing countries, the US has a large population, surpassing France in early 2011 to become the world’s largest wine consumer. Despite this, the US ranked only 62nd in per capita consumption by 2016, with just 30% of the population identifying as wine drinkers. In 2019, the US experienced its first decline in wine consumption in 25 years, as the industry lost market share to fast-growing categories such as canned hard seltzers, spirits, and craft beer. Still, the US continues to provide the world’s most substantial market for fine wines. Further, over the past 20 years, powerful American critics have had a significant influence on winemakers and markets worldwide.
In the early ninth century, the Viking Leif Eriksson brought his boat aground at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, becoming the first European to definitively set foot on the North American continent. He christened his discovery Vinland—possibly a reference to the meadows before him or, as recounted in the 13th-century poem “Saga of the Greenlanders,” a tribute to the wealth of native grapevines. Unlike in South America, several species of wild grapevines awaited the first colonists of North America, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis aestivalis. Vitis vinifera, the source of fine wine
The section on labeling requirements for the United States includes the following text: ‘If an American or imported wine in the US uses a vintage date, the wine must carry an appellation smaller than a country.’ Is this accurate? Though I strongly suspect this was the case historically (I recall the days of working with country appellation-level wines with coded references to the year of harvest, as vintage labeling wasn’t permitted in those days), I’m rather certain that I’ve dealt with a number of wines (in my case, imported wines) in recent years that are vintage-dated with an appellation no more specific than the country of origin. The current regulatory text of 27 C.F.R. § 4.27 also makes me strongly suspect that US label regulations would have been updated in response to the EU changes allowing varietal and vintage labeling on wines without geographic indication (beyond country of origin). I have not been able to nail down precisely when such a regulatory change might have occurred (though I’ve seen references to 2012), but I’m rather dubious about the accuracy of the statement above, unless someone could be so kind as to point me in the right direction as to where such a regulatory requirement currently-in-force might be found.