I’m on my way to the land of cowboy boots and newborn babies: Albuquerque, NM. After the soul-searching that was my last post, I’m going to bring this blog back to reality for a moment with one that’s actually more or less about wine. Just for the hell of it, and because I’m here, for once I’m even going to write about American wine. Imagine that.

Several years ago when the world of wine was still new to me and I had enough patience to pay attention (at least a little bit) to the ‘formal’ wine press, I learned something about the wine industry that fascinated me and I’ve often quoted: wine is produced in every state of this American Union. I couldn’t believe it – climactic factors aside (Alaska), the snob in me was skeptical of there being too much interest in oenology in West Virginia, for example. Oklahoma.

With hindsight, I’m sorry to have given in to unfair generalizations… and now that I’ve driven (almost) across country, I confess to feeling even more sheepish. There were prominent billboards advertising local wineries in every state I drove through this August – all 13 of them. The attractions menu on the GPS I was fortunate enough to have with me always had something under ‘wineries.’ Unfortunately I was alone in the car and not about to start taking notes on the interstate… so I don’t have a record of the names of the places I drove past. Perhaps someday I’ll take the time to trace my route on Google Earth and see what I can come up with. For the moment though, just some brief anecdotes.

Most of my friends in the Northeast are familiar enough at this point with the idea of Long Island Wine, and/or Finger Lakes Riesling, that the thought of wine coming from Connecticut as well shouldn’t surprise anyone too much. Ditto New Jersey.

In Pennsylvania I confess I went out of my way to buy pretzels from the Amish but not to taste any wine, and I wasn’t in Maryland long enough to do much of anything.

Anybody who’s had a bottle of wine imported by Kermit Lynch should know about Virginia - Kermit’s motto, written on every back label, is a now-famous Thomas Jefferson quote: “Good wine is a necessity of life.” There are still vines being tended at Monticello today, and there are a few vinos from Virginia that can be found in New York City.

To West Virginia, I’ve already made my apologies – also to Oklahoma. I guess in all honesty to myself, I must admit that it was pretty stupid of me not to realize that the states that make up our agricultural heart of course grow wine as well, somewhere. Arkansas also goes on that list. Tennessee is green and lush with some beautiful mountain air – no shock there.

Nothing about Texas should ever surprise anybody, and believe it or not New Mexico was the first state other than New York and California whose wine I really knew anything about. There is a growing wine industry in New Mexico, far and away the best known part of which is Gruet, one of the highest-quality producers of American sparkling wine. I’m sure that such a statement will surprise many people - and possibly provoke some debate - but having been to the winery and tasted through their entire line of sparklers, including the Brut NV, Brut Rose NV, Demi-Sec NV, Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Grand Rose, and Grand Reserve wines, I’m willing to stand by it.

On my camping trip in the lovely state of Colorado, I saw beautiful vines growing on the foothills to the Rocky Mountains.

Perhaps when all this is said and done I’ll drive across country again, and actually stop and learn about some of our domestic wines in the process. There’s a lot more out there then most of us realize, and I bet some of it’s pretty good.

At the moment I may be obsessed with the rest of the world, the languages spoken outside of this country, and the long histories and strong traditions of oenology in Europe, but hey - I do know where I come from.

October 10th, 2007 | vino