That’s according to the first detailed study ever done on the wine industry’s national economic impact. The analysis was done by John Dunham & Associates of New York for WineAmerica, the national association of American wineries.
The comprehensive study measured direct, supplier, induced, and total output including jobs, wages and taxes at all three levels. Of the total impact–$219.9 billion–the wine industry’s direct impact is $84.5 billion, the supplier impact $58.8 billion, and the induced impact $76.6 billion. The wine industry provides nearly one million direct jobs (998,496) and over $33.5 billion in annual wages. When supplier and induced figures are included, the totals are 1,738,270 jobs and $75.8 billion in wages.
Among the highlights of the study:
- There are 10,236 winery facilities in all 50 states
- Grapes are grown on 677,629 acres of vineyards in 49 states
- The wine industry supports 1,738,270 American jobs
- Total annual wages exceed $75.7 billion
- Nearly 43 million tourist visits to wineries support thousands of jobs
- More than $17.6 billion in tourist expenditures benefit local communities
- The wine industry generates a total of $36.5 billion in total taxes, including more than $19 billion to the federal government and $17.4 billion to states and localities.
Jim Trezise, president of WineAmerica whose work as head of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation we’ve admired for years, told us that California is obviously the largest wine producer, representing about 85% of the industry. Washington State is second, Oregon is third and New York is fourth.
But what was significant, he said, is that there are wineries in every state, and that number continues to increase. What that means for a lobbying organization such as WineAmerica is that every U, S, senator has wineries in his state.
We interviewed Jim Trezise and John Dunham and you can hear that interview here.