While the country of Georgia is the true birthplace of wine thousands of years ago, the state of Georgia was the sixth largest wine producer before Prohibition and has been growing in recent years. Most wineries are in northern Georgia near the Blue Ridge Mountains where the conditions for growing vinifera grapes are ideal. The … Read more

Farm Bill Blues Congress has returned to Washington after its latest recess, and is scheduled to be there for the next three months or so. But that doesn’t necessarily mean many important things will get done. The Farm Bill is a sad example. In theory, it’s passed every five years, and includes some vital provisions … Read more

Surrounded by massive bodies of water on three sides and on a relatively low (hot) latitude, Florida is ideal for growing all kinds of citrus and tropical fruits, but hospitable only to muscadine grapes—which is fine, as they can produce some real good wines. The large economic impact of wine on Florida’s economy is due … Read more

WineAmerica 2024 Government Affairs Vineyardists grow grapes. Wineries make wine. WineAmerica shapes policy. This newsletter may be your main contact with WineAmerica, but in fact our main “product” is far more complex and important: shaping federal public policy to protect and enhance the business climate for the American wine industry. We recently published the WineAmerica 2024 … Read more

“The First State” proudly adorns Delaware license plates, and Swedish settlers first made wine in 1638. But that small east coast state also has the fewest wineries of any state and, alas, is now one of only three which do not allow direct-to-consumer shipping. Nevertheless, its relatively mild maritime climate is conducive to grape production, … Read more