American Wines

The first Europeans to land in America called it Vinland because of the abundance of grapes they found there. Now we are biased, but we kind of wish this had stuck. Although it would have been potentially confusing (what with Finland and all) it trips of the tongue somewhat more easily than United States of America. Like most things in North America, the wine industry is big. They are the fourth largest producer in the world and California alone produces twice as much wine as Australia. Not only are the volumes big, but the wines are big too; you’ll find very few shrinking violets here. However, in truth, you can find almost anything you want in America...

The American wine industry is one of polar opposites, those who do it for love and those who do it purely for business, huge operations and tiny family run wineries, what we would describe as cheap and nasty all the way to some of the world’s finest wines commanding over £100 a bottle, classic Bordeaux blends to the downright crazy, it's all here. Sorry if you came here looking for a concise “American wines in a nutshell” explanation, it simply can’t be done, we recommend biting the bullet and diving in. 

One thing we will say before we go though, is that although California is king, watch this space because we have some incredible wines  from New York’s Finger Lakes and Long Island coming soon...