USA is best known for it’s big brands such as Blossom Hill and Gallo from California, but did you know that wine is made in all 50 states?

The United States is the fourth largest wine producing country in the world after France, Italy, and Spain with California alone producing twice as much wine as the whole of Australia.

There is over 300 years of history of winemaking in North America as settlers from the “Old-World” especially French Huguenots, who bought their knowledge of how to grow grapes and make wine with them. This expansion was then stopped by two dramatic events, one which ravaged the entire world of wine and the other which was purely an American episode. Phylloxera and Pierce’s Disease swept across the world in the late 19th Century until a cure was found, and North America was no exception. This led to whole vineyards being ripped up with only the most commercial replanted after a cure was found. The next thing to happen was Prohibition which was in place from 1919 until 1930 across the country although certain states actually had prohibition in place from as early as 1846.

Following the repeal of Prohibition, American wine making reemerged in very poor condition. Many talented winemakers had died, vineyards had been neglected or replanted with table grapes, and Prohibition had changed Americans' taste in wines. Consumers now demanded cheap "jug wine" and sweet, fortified (high alcohol) wine. Before Prohibition dry table wines outsold sweet wines by three to one, but after the ratio was more than reversed.

The leading light in turning the USA into the quality wine growing country that it is today is UCD (that is University of California, Davis!!), which led research into which grape varieties grow best in which region as well as training a new young breed of grape growers and winemakers.

As we have said wine is made in every single one of the states that make up the USA but it is primarily the West Coast that accounts for the quality output with California, Oregon and Washington states all having representation in the Superquinn wine range

CALIFORNIA

California is a state of two halves, with the area around the coast to the North of San Francisco responsible for some of the most expensive wines in the world and then the area inland Central Valley region between San Francisco and Los Angeles the home of mass produced branded wines. In terms of Californian wines in our range here is a selection available instore now

Mellowood Red, White & Rosé €6
This is a range of three wines from the Central Valley that is in our €6 range of wines. All three are also on an everyday price deal of “Any 3 for €15”

Superquinn Classic Collection Colombard/Chardonnay, Ruby Cabernet/Shiraz & Zinfandel Rosé €7
Last year we introduced five French wines into our range under the Superquinn brand and this year we expanded this range into California. The whole purpose of the range is to have classic wines from around the world that offer great value for money every day of the year. That is why our Wine Buying team individually blended each of these wines for the Superquinn and we have priced them at €7

Dancing Bull Zinfandel & Sauvignon Blanc €12.99
Moving up slightly in terms of quality and price we find the Dancing Bull range of wines. The grapes for these wines come mainly from the Sonoma County region to the North of San Francisco and you can really start to feel the quality here. Zinfandel is what this part of America is known for and is full of rich, jam packed flavours with hints of cedar wood and liquorice. The Sauvignon Blanc is a huge powerful style without too much of the ‘grassiness’ that you can get from New Zealand

Napa Cellars Zinfandel & Chardonnay €17.99
The most famous area in the whole of USA for making wine is the Napa Valley and the main reason for this apart from the amazing diversity of the soils is that the valley is shaped almost like a funnel, so that the cool fog is drawn up from the narrow Southern tip that lies on the coast up the valley to the North. This fog has a cooling effect on the grapes giving wines that can have great elegance and class.

Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Chardonnay €29.99
The Russian River area of Sonoma County is one of the premier world class winemaking areas in the world. It is famous for making wines from two grape varieties, namely Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and it’s wines should be compared with top world class Burgundies. Sonomer-Cutrer are one of the top producers and make wines of pure class and elegance that will age beautifully

Washington and Oregon

Further up the coast from California are the states of Washington and Oregon that are jointly known as the Pacific North-West. The climate here tends to be cooler which leads to wines more similar in style to French wines than big jam packed Australian styles. We have two ranges from this part of the world

Washington Hills Sauvignon Blanc & Merlot €11.99
These wines come from the inland area of the Columbia Valley and lie in a rain shadow behind the Cascade Mountain range to the West, which means that the vines get very little rain. The northerly latitude is in line with Bordeaux and Burgundy and mean that the vines get an extra 2 hours of sunlight in summer compared to California

A to Z Oregon Pinot Noir €19.99
Oregon has become known as one of the top areas in the world for Pinot Noir production along with Burgundy, Otago in New Zealand and the Russian River.. Quality wine making has only being going on here since the 60’s but the area sprang to the worlds attention when a Pinot Noir from the region won the best Pinot Noir in the world in 1979 ahead of Burgundy for the very first time.