New York Wine Region: A Story of Resilience & Ingenuity
While not as notorious as California, Oregon or Washington, New York boasts one of the United States’ largest wine regions with 11 AVA (American Viticultural Areas) sprawling across the state. The region is as diverse and resilient as the spirit of its inhabitants. Just as New Yorkers are renowned for their ingenuity and resilience, so too is the state’s viticultural history a testament to adaptation and innovation. From the rolling hills of the Finger Lakes to the sun-drenched slopes of Long Island, New York’s wine industry has flourished against all odds. Like a fine vintage crafted through perseverance and grit, New York wines embody a blend of tradition and modernity, offering a taste of the state’s rich terroir and the indomitable spirit of its people.
Climate & Geography
New York is situated between the 40• to 45• north parallel, the same latitude as Northern Spain, and in fact only slightly South of the latitude of Bordeaux. Despite this, New York state is a cool to cold climate wine growing region, ultimate producing higher-acidity grapes and wines.
New York’s AVA’s (American Viticultural Areas) all cluster around the state’s major water ways - the Atlantic, Finger Lakes, Hudson River and Lake Ontario. This is due to the fact that bitter winters could be moderated by the bodies of water. However, in it is for this same reason that the temperatures here can increase disease temperature, making it hard for wine grapes to grow - specifically Vitis Vinifera, common grape wines that originated in Europe.
Native Varieties
Because the climate was subpar for typical wine grapes, the region instead turned to native grape varieties for wine. Emblematic of a typical New Yorker, native grape varieties cropped up and adapted to the region’s challenging conditions. Often too hardy and not particularly great for wine - these varieties were often dismissed, but alas they thrived because they were resistant to disease. In the 1930’s Veuve Clicquot winemaker, Charles Fournier introduced hybrid grapes (a cross between French vitis vinifera and local American grapes) to New York. These hybrids put together the best qualities of each - the flavor and concentration from vitis vinifera, and the resilience and hardiness of the native grapes.
New York further defined itself as a wine-growing region in the 1950s after the first successful commercial plantings of just vitis vinifera. Hand-in-hand with New York State and local vineyards, a Ukranian-born Dr. Konstantin Frank proved to the nay-sayers that cold-resistant vinifera varieties - specifically Riesling and Cabernet Franc - could not only survive but create great quality wines in New York. This laid the groundwork for the popularity of Riesling in the Finger Lakes region. These Rieslings increased in quantity and quality, drawing international attention to the wine and region. The notoriety eventually led to the first AVA’s to be established in the state in the 1980s.
New York AVAs
FINGER LAKES:
11 glacial lakes which makes the soil great for wine growing conditions
Riesling, originally the only viable wine grape
Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir gaining momentum
LONG ISLAND
Proximity to NYC means vineyards and wines are well-known (but not necessarily of good quality)
Home to the Hamptons and North Fork sub-AVAs
Bordeaux-style blends
Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon have flourished here since the 1970s
Sauvignon Blanc has since taken over and risen in popularity
HUDSON RIVER VALLEY
Wine grapes grown here as early as the late 1600s
Home to the oldest, still operating US winery, Brotherhood Winery which started in 1839
Home to native grapes and hybrid wines
LAKE ERIE
NY’s largest grape-growing region but is largely unknown - majority of grape production isn’t for wine
Spans southern coast of Lake Erie (NY, PA, to OH)
NIAGRA ESCARPMENT
An escarpment is an uprising between two plains. At 400-600 feet, these hillsides make perfect conditions to grow grapes like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc
Lots of limestone soils
Pinot noir, notoriously finicky, thrives well here
CHAMPLAIN VALLEY
Coldest climate wines
Next to Québec and Vermont
Frontier of winemaking in New York - lots of experimentation with cold climate varieties and cideries in NY and VT
Today
A number of award-winning wines later, New York has grown in maturity as a wine region, but has also paved the way for other American winemaking practices. As the region has grown, New York became a trendsetter for sustainable winemaking in the United States by establishing the first sustainability program on the East coast in 2012. The state’s blending of native and vitis vinifera has also been an example for other region of how to curate grapes and wines that can better withstand climate change and extreme conditions.
New York boasts a vibrant and important hospitality industry, which has been integral in shining a light on the state’s winemaking traditions and pioneering ways. Sommeliers, chefs and restauranteurs are all knowledgeable about the state’s unique varieties, always pushing local wines to the forefront in favor of those out of state. This has placed New York squarely on the global stage not only as a pioneer in winemaking practices, but also an industry well equipped to handle the future changes to the industry as a whole.
Things to Note When Looking at New York Wines
Grape blends must list the percentage of each grape
If there’s a vineyard name, 95% of wine comes from that vineyard
If there’s a listed vintage & AVA, 95% of the grapes must come from that vintage
“Estate Bottled” means the vineyards the grapes were grown on were owned or leased by the producer and made and bottled onsite
“Reserve” unlike Europe, the term doesn’t indicate quality or aging. In fact, it doesn’t mean much so don’t be fooled by this!
If a single varietal is listed (i.e. “Chardonnay” or “Riesling”), it needs to contain at least 75% of that variety (native varietals like Catawba or Concord only need 51%)
