NYTimes Interactive Regional Wine Map

The Sunday New York Times ran a long and in-depth article about regional wine today.   Most of the article is about Virginia wine, but Michigan gets some column inches too.

The link below takes readers to an interactive map of the United States showing where the all wineries are concentrated.  The figures used in the map are taken from the TTB’s winery license database which creates a substantial overstatement of the number of wineries. (There are lot more winery licenses in the Midwest than there are wineries.)

New York Times:  A Nation of Wineries 

In the Midwest Wine Press 2013 Midwest Winery Rankings, we estimated the number of operating wineries using information from various state associations and universities.   This methodology is more accurate than the New York Times map.

The only truly accurate method of determining the number of wineries in the Midwest would be to analyze state liquor commission records and make a lot of phone calls.  That’s not to say that the number of federal TTB winery licenses is not a useful statistic.   Next April, Midwest Wine Press will have three consecutive years of TTB data.  Using this data, we will chart the number of federal winery licences in the Midwest over the past three years.  It will reveal some interesting trends about an industry that continues to grow in some areas, but is maturing in others.