It’s National Wine Day!

May 25 is recognized as NATIONAL WINE DAY – but it’s not alone. It’s just one of 17 National Wine Days in a calendar year. If you think that’s too many, stop your WINE-ing. There’s also: National Drink Wine Day on February 18, National Moscato Day on May 9, and so on. The ‘season’ of national wine days kicks off in February and finishes up on New Year’s Eve.

While California still leads US wine production and is now home to over 4,000 wineries state-wide, wineries are found across the US with at least 3 in every state. Iowa is home to 140 wineries (as of 2018), ranking in as the 15^th most in the United States. (Delaware has the fewest with only six)

According to wineamerica.com, grapes are the highest value fruit crop in the United States at $6.5 billion. In 2018, over 7.5 million tons of grapes were produced in the US. One ton of grapes will typically yield 140 to 160 gallons of juice which means that in a 750 ml bottle of wine, it took around 500 grapes to fill it up.

If you’re looking to partake in wine FROM our state. “Iowa” labeled wines require a minimum of 75% of the fruit to be grown in Iowa.

Iowawinegrowers.org says that there are more than 40 types of grapes grown in Iowa that can withstand our brutally cold winters.

To find a winery near you, try the American Winery Guide HERE, and tip back a wine glass, like Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine.

Here's the complete list of Wine Days in the USA: