United States: Other US states

While california, idaho, michigan, missouri, new york, oregon, texas, virginia, and washington have their own entries in this book, much of the wine made in every other US state is surprisingly good. Greater understanding of the viticultural and winemaking challenges associated with these areas, and the hybrid and native American varieties upon which they often rely, has given rise to a burgeoning wine industry far from the famous coastal wine regions.

The states of Hawaii and Alaska can be said to have derived a marketing advantage from their tourist industries. Many other states, North Dakota and Maine being extreme examples, suffer from the considerable limitation of having such a short growing season that they have no commercial vineyards and therefore have to import grapes, must, or grape concentrate and/or produce fruit wines. But wineries exist in these states in response to perceived interest in local agricultural products, as well as an increasing curiosity about, and acceptance of, wine in American society. While Maine and the other New England states (excluding New York) support about 300 wineries, many are dependent upon grapes purchased from New York or Pennsylvania. This is a common phenomenon in new US wine regions where many wineries function as brands built upon grapes imported from more famous wine-producing states, particularly California, Washington, and New York.