San Rafael, Calif. -- The total number of wineries in North America has grown by 361 in less than one year, and swelled by 1,961 since January 2005, according to data released today on Wines & Vines IndustryBase. There are a total of 7,011 bonded and virtual wineries in the United States, Canada and Mexico;
6,589 in the U.S. alone. Not surprisingly, the continent’s largest wine producer, California, continues to spawn the most new vintners, adding 68 new wineries since July 2009, and a total of 670 during the past five years, for a current total of 3,115.
Washington state’s tally grew at a faster rate, from just 368 wineries in 2005, and 565 in July 2009, to 593 today. The greatest growth by percentage came in emerging winegrowing areas of the U.S. In 2005, South Dakota had just five wineries; now, there are 15. New Hampshire added 17 wineries, for a total of 23; Delaware’s count also tripled, from one lone winery to three. States that more than doubled their numbers during that period: Iowa (from 34 to 81); Kentucky (21 to 48); Maine (7 to 18); North Carolina (53 to 109); North Dakota (3 to 7); Oklahoma (21 to 59) and Vermont (9 to 20). Mexico jumped from 11 to 29 wineries between 2005 and 2009, but lost one during the past year.
A few states lost ground: Louisiana, perhaps due to Hurricane Katrina, fell from 10 in 2005 to 5 last year, but it added two more in recent months. Mississippi fell from 4 to 2; Nevada, from 6 to 3; Rhode Island from 9 to 8; Utah from 11 to 3 and Wyoming from 4 to 2. Wines & Vines IndustryBase categorizes the vast majority of wine producers as limited in size (under 1,000 cases annually), very small (1,000 to 4,999) or small (5,000 to 49,999 cases per year).
Just 225 wineries are considered medium-sized (50,000 to 499,999) and only 50 are ranked as large producers (500,000 cases and up). According to Wines & Vines IndustryBase, 94% of all wineries in North America produce 30,000 cases or less per year, while the remaining 6% produce 93% of all wine by volume. Read more at: http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=news&content=73032 Copyright © Wines & Vines