Napa Valley-
Excellent crop, innovation, great marketing campaigns, and stellar products have been the driving force behind America’s wine industry rising to new heights at home and around the world. For over a hundred years, the world’s combined market share was dominated by French and Italian wineries whose exports were costly outside of their homelands, but worth the price. No longer is this the case. Napa Valley is entering a golden age and leading the way, with Sonoma and Oregon right behind in the US.
According to a Gallup pole, wine drinking has been steadily rising over the last two decades. In their most recent survey (2007), over 1/3 of American’s preferred wine to beer and liquor.
As numbers of wine drinkers are rising, so is domestic production. US wineries have grown steadily from 919 in 1980 to 4,712 in 2007 (Statistics gathered from the American Vintners Association and Wine America). Those are staggering numbers. The US is now the third largest wine producer in the world.
Wine America, a trade organization for the industry, reports that 782,017,235 gallons of wine were produced in the 2005-2006 fiscal year.
Big names and star power are also creating marketing buzz for American wine. Movie producer Francis Ford Coppola, basketball legend Larry Bird, race car great Mario Andretti, and NFL hall-of-famer Joe Montana, are just a few of the stars that are either producing wine or teaming together with US wineries. Stars sell, and now they sell wine. Of all the “star wine” I like Coppola’s Red Zinfandel. Nice spice and fruit undertones.
It is making less and less sense to wander over to the imported section of your grocery or liquor store. For $8-$20 you can now get a bottle that will compete with those old world favorites. My favorite wine of last year was Robert Hall Winery’s, 2005 Rhone de Robles, which recieved a 98 point rating (nearly a perfect wine) along with a host of gold medal competition crowns. I could get that bottle for $19 at my local wine store. I’d gladly pass over the $50 Bordeauxs for it any day.
The movie Sideways gave a big boost to the industry a few years ago. People swarmed to stores looking for Pinot Noir and becoming generally fascinated with the ancient art of wine making. If you’re searching for a P.N., try my favorite Elk Cove. It’s an Oregon winery, which in my opinion produces some great Pinots at a very reasonable price.
With US wines winning blind taste tests against French wines it easy to see why more and more people are turning to home.
So get out, try some of these domestic delights with some friends, save a little money, and tell me what your favorite is (I’m always looking for suggestions).
Oh, and here’s my Wine Pair if you Dare….. go out and buy a box of oreo cookies. Find a decent Red Zin. They are actually an amazing compliment, no joke.
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