<B style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">Wineries in New York are drawing nearly three times as many visitors as a decade ago, making the wine industry the fastest growing sector in agriculture and tourism -- two of the state's biggest economic engines.[/B]
Of the 212 wineries that have sprouted from Long Island across to Lake Erie -- there were only 19 in 1975 -- each one had an average of 54 percent more visitors in 2003 than it did three years earlier, according to the latest survey by the New York Agricultural Statistics Service.
The typical winery more than doubled its tasting-room sales, with each visitor spending 49 percent more on average than in 2000, the agency said.
The throng of tourists will likely swell to more than 3 million this year, up from an estimated 2.5 million in recent years, New York Wine & Grape Foundation President Jim Trezise said.
"We have had an equal number of winery startups in the first five years of this decade as we had in the whole decade previously, so we've doubled the growth rate," Trezise said. "I would say that probably we will have over 300 wineries statewide within two or three years."
It's been especially energetic in the Finger Lakes -- 10,000 acres of vineyards encircling four of the 11 fjord-like lakes in west-central New York.
One of America's oldest grape-growing regions now has 92 wineries, a sixfold increase in 30 years. The tourist influx is spawning dozens of bed-and-breakfasts and upscale restaurants and a burgeoning array of antique and gift stores, farm and craft markets and festivals.
"There's a huge multiplier effect from wine-industry growth, not only in tourism but in manufacturing because you have to have tanks and barrels, bottles and labels and corks and everything else," Trezise said.
A report by MFK Research issued September 19 that is the most comprehensive survey of its kind in New York estimated that the wine-and-grape industry in New York contributed $3.3 billion -- directly and indirectly -- to New York's economy in 2004.
A long-awaited state law allowing the direct shipment of wines into and out of New York went into effect August 11. Many New York vintners think the potential for sales growth nationally exceeds the risk that the local market may turn more toward wines from other states.
New York churns out about 200 million bottles of wine each year, generating more than $1 billion in sales, and is the nation's third-largest wine producer behind California and Washington. The state industry employs an estimated 18,000 people, both full-time and part-time.
The survey recorded an estimated 4.14 million "person visits" to New York wineries in 2003, up from 1.44 million in 1993 and 384,000 in 1985. The actual number of tourists is less since most of those people visited more than one winery, Trezise said.
Long Island had 943,000 "person visits," up 76 percent from 2000 to 2003, and the Finger Lakes topped 2 million visits, a 53 percent jump, the survey found. More than a quarter of visitors came from outside New York, and per-capita spending averaged $20.50 in 2003, up from $13.75 three years earlier.
There are more than 3,700 wineries in the United States, the world's No. 4 wine producer behind Italy, France and Spain. California had 1,689 wineries last year, followed by Washington state with 323 and Oregon with 228, according to the WineAmerica trade association. New York was fourth on the list, although it produces more wine than Oregon.
Of the 212 wineries that have sprouted from Long Island across to Lake Erie -- there were only 19 in 1975 -- each one had an average of 54 percent more visitors in 2003 than it did three years earlier, according to the latest survey by the New York Agricultural Statistics Service.
The typical winery more than doubled its tasting-room sales, with each visitor spending 49 percent more on average than in 2000, the agency said.
The throng of tourists will likely swell to more than 3 million this year, up from an estimated 2.5 million in recent years, New York Wine & Grape Foundation President Jim Trezise said.
"We have had an equal number of winery startups in the first five years of this decade as we had in the whole decade previously, so we've doubled the growth rate," Trezise said. "I would say that probably we will have over 300 wineries statewide within two or three years."
It's been especially energetic in the Finger Lakes -- 10,000 acres of vineyards encircling four of the 11 fjord-like lakes in west-central New York.
One of America's oldest grape-growing regions now has 92 wineries, a sixfold increase in 30 years. The tourist influx is spawning dozens of bed-and-breakfasts and upscale restaurants and a burgeoning array of antique and gift stores, farm and craft markets and festivals.
"There's a huge multiplier effect from wine-industry growth, not only in tourism but in manufacturing because you have to have tanks and barrels, bottles and labels and corks and everything else," Trezise said.
A report by MFK Research issued September 19 that is the most comprehensive survey of its kind in New York estimated that the wine-and-grape industry in New York contributed $3.3 billion -- directly and indirectly -- to New York's economy in 2004.
A long-awaited state law allowing the direct shipment of wines into and out of New York went into effect August 11. Many New York vintners think the potential for sales growth nationally exceeds the risk that the local market may turn more toward wines from other states.
New York churns out about 200 million bottles of wine each year, generating more than $1 billion in sales, and is the nation's third-largest wine producer behind California and Washington. The state industry employs an estimated 18,000 people, both full-time and part-time.
The survey recorded an estimated 4.14 million "person visits" to New York wineries in 2003, up from 1.44 million in 1993 and 384,000 in 1985. The actual number of tourists is less since most of those people visited more than one winery, Trezise said.
Long Island had 943,000 "person visits," up 76 percent from 2000 to 2003, and the Finger Lakes topped 2 million visits, a 53 percent jump, the survey found. More than a quarter of visitors came from outside New York, and per-capita spending averaged $20.50 in 2003, up from $13.75 three years earlier.
There are more than 3,700 wineries in the United States, the world's No. 4 wine producer behind Italy, France and Spain. California had 1,689 wineries last year, followed by Washington state with 323 and Oregon with 228, according to the WineAmerica trade association. New York was fourth on the list, although it produces more wine than Oregon.
