Tossing out a few Pennsylvania numbers

According to wineinstitute.org, there were almost 6,000 wineries -- what they refer to as bonded winery premises -- across the United States in 2007. Bonded winery licenses are issued by U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau for the purpose of designating a tax-paid environment for wine. More than half (2,687) are located in California.

That number dwarfs what Pennsylvania lists in the same year (114). Still, it’s not so much that bottom line that reflects what’s going on in this state and elsewhere along the East Coast; a better indicator is the total number of wineries that existed, say, 26 years ago when there were 29. There were only 46 some 10 years later, and still only 64 at the turn of this century. But since then the state has seen 50 more wineries open, and that number figures to increase at a similar rate over the coming decade. OK, that doesn’t mean they’ll be filming the sequel to “Sideways” here anytime soon, but it’s definitely progress.

“Looking back to 1997, there were 53 wineries,” said Jennifer Eckinger, of the Pennsylvania Winery Association, noting the momentum, “and they were producing around 423,000 gallons. In 2007 we had 114 wineries, but now we currently have 122.. So thinking about the year there’s already been a jump. And the total production for 2007 increased to just shy of 1 million gallons.”

Where’s this surge coming from? Popularity and the awareness that this soil and topography can support grapes albeit the limitations that growers are faced with in certain pockets of the state. In the town of Northeast in the northwest part of the state near Erie, Eckinger points out, “that’s always been a grape-growing area. But it’s [happening] increasingly moreso across the state. Even in some relatively inhospitable areas, they’re growing the Minnesota variety of grape. And the grape industry is flourishing, Id say, in the eastern part of the state.”

Courtesy of Eckinger, here are some numbers that might surprise you on the state of winemaking in this state. Tomorrow we’ll put a face to these numbers by talking to the owner of a winery that’s yet to open. Jon Patrono will open his Hauser Estate Winery west of Gettysburg, and he shares some of the steps he and his family have had to take to advance within two months of opening for business.

These include, from left, the year and number of wineries, the total production, the total gallons sold, the sales to the PLCB and the sales on premises.

Year--No.--Prod.--Gallons--Sales/LCB--Sales/prem.
1981---27---254,724---181,181---5,960---165,524
1986---54---329,852---307,969---1,189---289,068
1991---50---312,009---293,121---8,231---259,831
1996---52---416,329---375,011---25,296--301,973
2001---72---598,327---481,737---32,961--430,119
2005--104--810,777---687,214---74,865---586,998
2006--108--780,155---723,032---82,021----620,649
2007--114--919,936---750,694---82,059----649,945