Statistically, how "winey" is each state?
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| Per capita wine consumption, from Business Insider Click on image to enlarge |
Consumption
The states drinking the most by total volume are the high population ones of California, Florida, Texas, New York, and Illinois. CA's total is almost twice second place FL's. Likewise, the states drinking the least are the small population states of West Virginia, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Data from 2011.
Per capita consumption's top five are District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, and California. DC = your policymakers at work. NH and DE are "false" numbers as a significant portion of their sales go to nearby out-of-state people because of their low taxes. VT has a strong craft beer and premium wine culture.
Wisconsin leads the nation in excessive alcohol use aka America's drunkest state. Forty-one of the fifty U.S. counties with the highest excessive alcohol consumption are in WI.
In premium wine ($20-up) California, New York, New Jersey, and Texas are on top. This relates to the relative wealth in their metro areas. District of Columbia again leads in per capita consumption.
Looking at varietals, there are two "Chardonnay Belts," one is the West Coast, the other is the Northeast Corridor. Top Cabernet and Pinot Noir sales are CA, FL and TX. There doesn't appear to be any stats for per capita by varietal. Oregon probably drinks the most Pinot Noir per capita though there's no direct data, but this is inferred from other wine stats.
Production
California produces about 82% of America's wine, it varies by year. Plus, the source of the data matters as I've seen numbers from 78% to 89%. Washington and New York are next, each between 4 and 5%. There are about 11,000 wineries in the country. Over 4,600 are in CA, 860 in OR, 820 in WA, 520 in TX, and 450 in NY.
Looking at state production by varietal. California crushes about 525,000 tons of Chardonnay annually, Washington 40,000 tons, and 6,700 tons in Oregon. For Cabernet Sauvignon, CA produces about 450,000 tons, WA 67,000, OR 3,100. For Pinot Noir, CA crushes around 275,000 tons, and OR 125,000 tons. CA crushes about 175,000 tons of Zinfandel a year, 90% of total U.S. output.
For the California numbers, 75% of wine grapes come from the vast Central Valley and don't usually go into premium wines. These have the California appellation on the label. There are exceptions such as the Lodi area.
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| Wine production by state, from Wine Business Analytics Click on image to enlarge |
Sources:
Beverage Insider/Beverage Information Group
Jordon Winery
Matador Network
Population Health Institute
Statista
Wine Institute
Wisconsin Watch


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