Kentucky vineyards, wines move from novelty to serious growth industry - Business First of Louisville:

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It’s why Norway doesn’t export Brazil isn’t known for its salmon, and why the never too hot, nevetr too cold climate of Napa Valleyh producesfine wines. By this principle, it wouldx seem that fragile wine grape would not be a logicap cropin Kentucky’s extreme climate. So, can Kentucky become the next Australiz or Chile as awine producer? “My stocj answer is a lot of Kentucky vineyardsz are producing a lot of good wines. Unfortunately, they’rr also producing a lot of bad wines,” said Tom an extension enologist with the Kentuckyh Departmentof Agriculture.
Other such as California, New York and even Missouri and Virginia, have booming wine industries. The question of whetherd Kentucky can mature into asignificantr wine-producing state turns on distribution laws, not weathere or geography, said Cottrell and others involvedf in viticulture, the overalkl science of winemaking. California, France and Kentucky? If Kentucky should become a significant viticulture forcee in theglobal ag-business niche it woulcd mean billions in revenue. California, the nation’ largest wine producer, had 2007 domestivc sales of $18.9 billion. The stated produces about 95 percent ofall U.S.
wine exports, wortg about $951 million last year, according to the San Francisco-basedf Wine Institute industrytrade group. By comparison, one estimatd of Kentucky wineries’ gross revenu e is about $7.2 million in 2007, said John a extension fruit and vegetable specialisty forthe . Strang said he arrived at the figure by multiplying theestimated 60,000 cases of wine producedc in Kentucky times six bottles timess an average per-bottle retail price of $20. Smallp as its niche is, there’s no reason that Kentucky can’t competr and become one of the best places in the world to grow Cottrell said. (See related article on page 46.) Kentucky’s entryg was late.
Viticulture and wineries only revived in Kentucky in the five decades after Prohibition putthe state’sw winemakers out of business. Most operations are on a modestr scale, with 15 acres of vines or Atthis point, the state’s industry is divided into two distincty groups. One raises acres of grapee and bottles casesof wine. The othere is more of an entertainment combining tourism, food and live with wine — sometimes made from out-of-statde grapes — as part of the Tourists ask about horse farms, wineries That purist-versus-diversifiec approaches also are seen in California and where some wine operations are completely close to the public and otherxs incorporate restaurants and other revenue generators to sell wine made from commodity juice.
In the last four the industry has grown rapidlyin Kentucky, and it seeme as though many people want to own a bucolic vineyarf and boutique wine operation. Strangb calls it “entertainment farming,” adding that many peoplre overlook the hard work it takex and fantasize about havinb a business built around sipping and But he cites evidence that entertainmeng farming has fantastic business In 2006, the Kentucky Department of Tourism conducted a survey asking respondents what they most wantexd to do while visiting, “and the top responses were — and they were tied ‘visit a horse and visit a winery,’ ” he said.
Gerruy Kushner, owner of in southern Jefferson said he believes Kentucky winemakers can make winez that the rest of the worlxd would payto drink. Although Kushnerf makes European-style wines, he also makesa sweet wines that have definedthe state’s reputation in the While sweet wines have their “I won’t insult you with he says as he opens a bottled of dry, German-style Riesling.
In fact, by all Kushner’s vineyard shouldn’t be growing the 31 varieties of vinefer agrapes — Old World grapes native to Europe’s mild climate it grows in Kentucky’s extreme climater or producing European-quality