California, okay. Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Georgia were major wine makers?
STATE Gallons of Wine
Alabama 5,156
Arizona Territory 0
Arkansas 3,734
California 1,814,656
Colorado Territory 67
Connecticut 27,414
Dakota Territory 0
Delaware 1,552
District Of Columbia 900
Florida 681
Georgia 21,927
Idaho Territory 0
Illinois 111,882
Indiana 19,479
Iowa 37,518
Kansas 14,889
Kentucky 62,360
Louisiana 578
Maine 7,047
Maryland 11,583
Massachusetts 10,956
Michigan 21,832
Minnesota 1,750
Mississippi 3,055
Missouri 326,173
Montana Territory 0
Nebraska 470
Nevada 711
New Hampshire 2,446
New Jersey 24,970
New Mexico Territory 19,686
New York 82,607
North Carolina 62,348
Ohio 212,912
Oregon 1,751
Pennsylvania 97,165
Rhode Island 765
South Carolina 13,179
Tennessee 15,778
Texas 6,216
Utah Territory 3,131
Vermont 1,038
Virginia 26,283
Washington Territory 235
West Virginia 6,093
Wisconsin 9,357
Wyoming Territory 0
The Ohio River Valley (OH and KY) was the epicenter of wine production in the US. A local Cinci lawyer named Nicholas Longworth worked with Catawba (yes, that one) and produced a sparkling wine which I have seen on contemporary menus at higher prices than Mumm, Margaux and Pol Roger. Had massive caves to do the bubble-making ferment. Having tasted what some winemakers have pulled from Catawba recently, I can see the potential for sparkling (and the tastes were for a lot sweeter back then.) I have been bugging a winemaker in the ORV to try it.
Back before the Civil War, the hillsides down there were covered in cultivated vines. The post-Civil War labor drain and a series of really wet summers pretty much killed the wine industry down there. Moved to Lake Erie shores, first more E Ohio/PA/NY then W and up into MI. Prohibition killed the wine industry, but Welch’s had vast holdings in W Mich and was a leader in the Temperance movement. What vineyards remained in production were switched to table and juice grapes.
The Southern states were predominantly Scuppernong/Muscadine. There is some interesting experiments and history there, but I am not readily up on.
A.
They had a head start. The Kentucky Vineyard Society was founded in 1798 - the same year of the first plantings of mission grapes at Mission Santa Clara.
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Missouri was also a major player.
I have read some interesting history of wine in the USA and was surprised to find out how big grape production was in the past in the Mid West and Eastern areas. And Missouri as Roberto pointed out.
I worked in St. Louis for a month and was very shocked to find out that there were tonnes of wineries still in Missouri.
Interesting who the top producers were in 1870 in California:
COUNTY Wine
Los Angeles 531,710
Sonoma 308,496
El Dorado 118,831
Calaveras 99,860
Santa Clara 85,150
Yuba 76,743
Sacramento 74,797
Placer 61,209
Solano 54,780
Amador 54,165
Tuolumne 51,590
San Bernardino 48,730
Napa 46,745
Tehama 33,000
Butte 27,919
San Joaquin 21,165
Shasta 19,287
Sutter 14,630
Santa Cruz 14,550
Merced 10,815
Contra Costa 10,330
Yolo 10,250
Nevada 10,183
Santa Barbara 6,275
Tulare 5,430
Monterey 5,200
Stanislaus 5,140
Alameda 2,785
San Diego 1,000
Marin 800
Klamath 580
Siskiyou 525
Mendocino 500
San Mateo 500
Sierra 400
Mariposa 395
Colusa 170
Lake 16
Humboldt 5
Alpine 0
Del Norte 0
Fresno 0
Inyo 0
Kern 0
Lassen 0
Mono 0
Plumas 0
San Francisco 0
San Luis Obispo 0
Trinity 0
Los Angeles was No. 1? And Sonoma was No. 2? I thought the whole Napa/Sonoma thing came after prohibition.
Fresno and Stanislaus (Modesto) were unknown wine country. The world had not learned the benefits of Hearty Burgundy yet.
Big industry there and very savvy in marketing. Now have a MO wine bar in the STL airport. Do stuff in conjunction with Tour de Missouri. Promoting the Norton grape with an MO identity. Lots of local events. A model of marketing local wineries in non-traditional areas.
YMMV on the Norton grape, but I think it is great they are carving out their own identity. There are a tiny handful of pre-Prohibition plots of Norton as well.
A.
Apparently there was a fellow named Paul Garrett who, prior to prohibition, sold a very popular wine, called “Virginia Dare”, although, post-prohibition, the company has made only stuff like vanilla extract.
BTW, if anyone has a pristine bottle of pre-Prohibition Virginia Dare, then I’d love to try it - Wine-Searcher Pro doesn’t list any.
The “Mother Vine” on Roanoke Island
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Isn’t that the basic plot of Chinatown - the shenanigans which went into transforming the greater LA basin from an agricultural district into a - well, whatever it is that LA has since become?
[It’s not at all clear to me just what exactly most of the people in greater LA do nowadays - especially since the aircraft bidness went belly up at the end of the Cold War. There can’t possibly be 10 million people filming & distributing pr0n, can there?]
I see that Mr. Garret was an early adopter of Screwcaps too…