Subtle Shift

One of the tastier rivalries in U.S. business involves the nation's two major wine-producing states: California and New York. California, with its sunny climate and rich soil, is far in the lead. It sells a full three-fourths of domestic wines (143 million gallons) and conducts a vast promotion campaign, currently featuring the barrel-chested baritone on horseback who peals (and pours) Gallo's praises on TV.

But New York producers can hoist their own glasses: though their some 35,000 acres of vineyard cannot match the Californians' 463,000 acres, their sales are growing faster. While California's share of the U.S. wine market has ebbed from 88% to 76% since 1950, New York's has grown from 7% to 12%. In these figures, some wine experts detect a subtle taste shift from the inexpensive, sweet dessert wines of California to the drier and more dear (by as much as 50%) varieties produced in the harsher climates of upstate New York. In New York's wine-making Finger Lakes area, output of dry table wines is growing by 13% a year, against only 6% in California. Increased demand for premium table wines helped lift Taylor Wine Company, Inc.'s sales 11% to $23 million last year.

While table varieties accounted for only 20% of U.S. wine sales 30 years ago, they are now up to 40%, and industry sources expect that they will reach 75% before long. New York producers plan to benefit most--and they archly dismiss the lushly productive vineyards of their California rivals. Says Ernest I. Reveal, president of Widmer's Wine Cellars, Inc., the No. 2 New York vintner (after Taylor): "We like the fact that the vine has to hustle its bustle a bit to give us the required grape."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.