What’s Wine Worth?
It depends:
Which wine? From where? To where? Through what channel? At what price? Subject to what taxes? Etc.
We know that wine is the ultimate value-added product from vine to glass, but its actual value depends on these questions and more. Specifically, what do you want to know? Once that is defined, a study can be structured to find the answers.
Several members of WineAmerica’s State and Regional Associations Advisory Council (SRAAC)—CA, IL, MI, NY, OH, and others—have commissioned John Dunham & Associates to do state-level analyses, which generally are limited to wine produced, distributed, consumed and taxed within a particular state. But there are also some differences, such as some states which also want to include Concord grapes used for juice. Everyone is different, and so are the results.
The Big Picture
Consumers love aroma, bouquet and taste
Politicians love jobs, wages and taxes
WineAmerica wants the total picture.
As the only national association of American wineries, with 400 members from 45 states and a focus on national public policy advocacy, WineAmerica wants a detailed analysis of the impact of ALL wines on the US economy. That obviously includes wine produced and consumed in all 50 states, but also the impact of foreign-produced wines which are imported and sold here, plus wines produced here and exported to markets around the world, and, in the process, produce jobs, wages, and taxes—which are the key metrics of the study.
The newly released 2025 National Economic Impact Study of the Wine Industry was sponsored by WineAmerica and conducted by John Dunham & Associates, a top economic research firm specializing in public policy areas. That firm also did our studies in 2017 and 2022, and a comparison of basic results is included in the comprehensive Methodology that is part of the report on WineAmerica’s website.
Here are the American-only statistics:
–50 Wine Producing States
–10,761 Wine Producers
–763,080 Vineyard Acres
–74 Million Tourist Visits
–$14.13 Billion Tourist Expenditures
Here are the categories that also include some impact from foreign wine sales:
–1.76 Million Jobs
–$102.14 Billion Annual Wages
–$53.24 Billion Total Taxes
–$26.18 Billion Federal Taxes
–$27.07 State & Local Taxes
Another way to look at it is to examine the statistics in the “Direct Economic Impact” category in the 2025 Data table below.
The first category, Winery (including estate vineyards), has 75,655 jobs (8% of the total). Tourism has 108,913 (12%), and Retail 688,725 (74%).
The first two categories are US-only, but the huge Retail category reflects American workers selling wines from everywhere in the world. These are all AMERICAN jobs—as are those in importation, export, wholesale, etc. Those jobs count! So do the business and consumption taxes generated by wines produced overseas but sold here.
Unfortunately, many in the American wine industry tend to think only of production, when in fact consumption—with all the value-added components that go into it—is far more important economically. And in terms of the suggestion to exclude foreign wines for whatever reason, commercial xenophobia is misleading and unhealthy because it obscures the total value of wine.
The Power of Consumption
We all know that California has the largest population and accounts for about 80% of total domestic wine production, along with much of the country’s wine consumption. But fewer people know that all 50 states make wine—yes, Alaska and Hawaii as well as both Dakotas and Minnesota—and of course they all consume wine as well. Wine is a national art form.
So when you measure the total economic impact of wine on various states, from production through consumption including lots of taxes, California benefits by $84.51 billion. The states after that, in descending order of impact, are:
–Texas $24.39 Billion
–Florida $20.09 B
–New York $16.81 B
–Illinois $11.72 B
–Washington $10.56 B
–Michigan $8.96 B
–Ohio $7.70 B
–Pennsylvania $7.26 B
–Oregon $7,08 B
It seems kind of crazy, because (not including California) the states with the most wine producers are OR, WA, TX, and NY, but the most wine produced in those states starts with NY, then WA, OR, and TX. What a crazy industry!
The FL and NY Examples
And what about Florida? They have only 90 wine producers and 989 vineyard acres supporting a total of 482 Winery jobs—compared with the Retail sector with 61,842 jobs—Americans selling wine in restaurants and stores to consumers who…consume!
Besides being the third most populous state, Florida is awash with major theme parks featuring on-site hotels and restaurants, other independent hotels and restaurants, millions of retirees with disposable income, and snowbirds who fly south every winter. It just makes sense…and dollars and cents.
If you excluded all imported wines into Florida, including those from California, there would be virtually no economic impact of wine in the Sunshine State. Goodbye jobs, wages, and taxes.
I will end with a somewhat sad example of my own beloved state, New York. The Empire State now has 507 wine producers, 32,148 vineyard acres accounting for 3,068 jobs—compared with 35,217 in the Retailer (restaurant and store) sector, or more than 10 times the number.
Here’s the sad part: Today New York wineries make some truly great wines (especially Riesling and Cabernet Franc) at very reasonable prices, but people in New York City don’t care. There is no regional chauvinism in The Big Apple, which in fact is the major port of entry for foreign wines as well as a large market for California wines, which we also view as imports. Ergo: New York wines are a tiny fraction of total sales.
So…if we limited our economic impact study to wines produced, sold, and taxed within New York (or did the same with any other state except California), the results would be miniscule compared with the scenario when ALL wine is included. And the legislators would not like the resulting loss of jobs, wages and taxes!
Wine—fermented grape juice—is so simple. Yet so complicated. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy a glass. You’ll feel better. Cheers!
Peruse and Use
WineAmerica funded this study so its members could have valuable information to share with legislators and others in the 45 states they represent. However, as a naturally collaborative organization, we are offering the information for free to industry colleagues nationwide even if they are not members. All the information is on our website, but you can get a special link for easier downloading by emailing jimtrezise@nullwineamerica.org
If you find the information valuable and wish to use it, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine too. We are simply trying to help everyone involved with the best product on earth.