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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 AVAs in California includes the following text: ‘Green Valley is not a sub-AVA of Russian River Valley but instead its own AVA, distinct for its cool temperatures, Goldridge soil, and morning fog layer. Since Green Valley is a nested AVA within Russian River Valley, producers may label their wines Green Valley or Russian River Valley; they often choose the latter in warmer vintages.’ I’m a bit confused as to what constitutes a sub-AVA, as the study guide elsewhere applies the term of sub-AVAs to AVAs located within Napa Valley, the Sierra Foothills, Willamette Valley and uses the term ‘sub-appellations’ for AVAs within Lodi. Is the term sub-AVA being applied to where AVAs face conjunctive labeling requirements in their relation to other AVAs? (As I’m not aware of any such conjunctive labeling requirements that apply to the AVAs within the Sierra Foothills.) Is a sub-AVA a legally controlled term with a defined meaning? I have yet to encounter it in TTB regulatory documents governing AVAs.
The section on grape varieties in California includes the following text: ‘Curious producers throughout California continue to experiment with new varieties, and one is likely to find just about anything bottled as a varietal wine in California, from the more routine Gewürztraminer, Viognier, Petit Sirah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre to the occasional Tempranillo, Vermentino, Grüner Veltliner, Valdigué, and Graciano, and Nebbiolo.’ A couple of simple typos here: ‘Valdigué, and Graciano, and Nebbiolo’ should read ‘Valdiguié, Graciano, and Nebbiolo’.
The section on pioneers of viticulture in the United States includes the following text: ‘In 1965, David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard planted his first Pinot Noir grapes in the Willamette Valley, pioneering the varietal style for which the valley would become internationally known.’ As correctly noted later on in the section on the Willamette Valley, there’s a simple typo here: ‘David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard’ should read ‘David Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards’.
The section on the history of vine material in the United States includes the following text: ‘Charles Valentine Riley, a Missouri entomologist, earned his place in the history of wine for being the first to understand the innate resistance of American grapes species to phylloxera.’ Simple typo: ‘grapes species’ should read ‘grape species’.
The section on American wine history omits the article ‘the’ before ‘Finger Lakes’ in the following two instances: ‘The nation’s first bonded winery, Pleasant Valley Wine Company, was established in 1860 and is still operating today, near Hammondsport in Finger Lakes’ and ‘By the end of the 19th century, Finger Lakes claimed over 24,000 acres under vine’.