Current Status

Lake Erie counties and the Finger Lakes share almost 90% of the state's vineyard acreage. Chautauqua and Erie Counties of New York form the northern half of the "grape belt" bordering Lake Erie in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and these two counties have more than half of the state acreage (Fig. 1). The dominance of traditional native American varieties is most complete in this region; almost 99% of the acreage is planted to native varieties and almost 90% of that is Concord  

Figure 1. 1996 vineyard acreage in New York State

Native American varieties also form a majority of Finger Lakes grape acreage (66%), but the more diverse needs of the FL wineries lead to a greater array of grape varieties (Table 2). The survey reports on 9 separate native American varieties growing in the region, and less than 1/3 of the acreage is planted to Concord. Hybrid varieties make up 21.8% of the Finger Lakes acres, and Vitis vinifera 7.4%. Although the eastern counties (primarily Ulster, Columbia and Suffolk counties) have considerable native American and hybrid grape acreage, the area is dominated by V. vinifera varieties (Table 2). This is especially true for Suffolk county where little other than V. vinifera varieties are planted.

Table 2. Acreage of grapes in New York in 1996 by grape type and region of production.

	Chatuqua / Erie		Finger Lakes		Other Western Counties		Eastern Counties		New York State
Grape Type	Acres	% of Region	Acres	% of Region	Acres	% of Region	Acres	% of Region	Acres	% Region
Native	17,448	98.8	6,728	66.6	1,237	90.5	442	21.0	25,855	82.8
Hybrid	71	0.4	2,199	21.8	0	0.0	65	3.1	2,335	7.5
Vitis vinifera	0	0.0	745	7.4	26	1.9	1,311	62.4	2,082	6.6
Not indicated	141	0.8	425	4.2	104	7.6	284	13.5	954	3.1
Total	17,660	100.0	10,097	100.0	1,367	100.0	2,102	100.0	31,226	100.0

Farm Size

Figure 2. New York grape acreage and number of grape farms between 1965 and 1996

Figure 3. Annual New York State grape production from 1950 (first data point represents the average yearly production from 1945 -- 1950

Although the farm number has declined, the size distribution of grape farms in the various areas has remained relatively constant (Fig. 4). Studies indicate that the typical native American NY State grape farm is too small to provide a full income for most families.The majority of farms are in the 10 to 50 acre range, and economic analysis indicates that at least 100 acres are required to both justify the equipment investment and to provide sufficient income for most families. Less than 7% of the farms presently meet the 100 acre size. In 1990, the estimated minimum economic size was 50 acres and 16% of the farms were in that range. Of course, many of the smaller farms do not depend entirely on grape production or even on farming to provide the full family income.

Figure 4. Distribution of grape farm size in different New York grape producing regions in 1990 (top) and 1996 (bottom).

Changes and Trends

Figure 5. Change in New York acres of the major native American grape varieties relative to 1966 (lines) and 1996 acreage of the same varieties (columns).

New York planting trends follow these national ones (Fig. 5). Note that Concord acreage was relatively stable until the1980's. During the 1960's Catawba, Delaware and, to a lesser extent, Niagara were planted. This was the period of rapid growth in white wine consumption in the US, and these varieties produce palatable, although relatively inexpensive white table wines that carry a degree of residual sweetness. During the same period Concord acreage fell, reflecting the reduced market share of dessert wines. Since 1980 Catawba and Delaware acreage have declined. This is because they are not well suited for the production of the dry, high quality table wines that are now in most demand.

Recently there has been some increase in Niagara acreage. Most Niagara is being planted for the white juice market. The demand for white juice has increased, and it appears that the processors perceive eastern Niagara juice to be of higher quality than that produced in Washington State. However, the same processors do not have a similar appreciation for eastern grown Concord juice. There has been a distinct shift in Concord juice production from the east to Washington State, where cost of production and pesticide load are lower and where higher-sugar, lower-acid Concord grapes are produced. These are cheaper to process, closer to the expanding Asian markets and produce juice that the current generation of consumers seems to prefer.

Category and Price

Figure 6. Change in average price paid for different grape types in actual and in equivalent 1984 dollar values for the period 1970-1996).

Looking into the Crystal Ball

The fact that, in spite of an apparent world-wide preference for red wines, white hybrid variety prices have surged in New York is encouraging. The number of wineries, and hence of potential buyers, has increased greatly in recent years. Just before passage of the NY Farm Winery Act, there were 24 bonded wineries in NY, of which 11 were located in the Finger Lakes. Today there are more than 100 bonded wineries in the state and 49 are located in the Finger Lakes region. Demand for quality table wines is up, and the premium wineries have a good market for both quality white and red wines. The key is to produce quality grapes and wines. This means that the grower and winery must work together to produce fruit that will result in wines of competitive quality and grape values that reflect the grower's investment.

Demand for vinifera varieties in New York continues to increase. Currently there is an impression that the number of sites suitable for expansion of vinifera production in New York is very limited, especially in the Finger Lakes and the Hudson Valley. It would be interesting to see to what extent the advances in knowledge we have gained about growing V. vinifera in New York might allow expansion onto sites which were formerly considered unsuitable for vinifera production.

What if you have neither the site nor the desire to plant other than native American grapes? The solution would seem to be finding a way to increase the value of your grapes. Some ways that this has been done are to produce organically grown grapes, to produce table grapes, to directly participate in retail marketing through farm stands, and to participate in regional farmer's markets or the New York City green markets. 

Sources

NY Orchard and Vineyard Survey 1996, NY Agric.Statistics Service, 1 Winner's Circle, Albany, NY 12235.

 

Shaffer, B. and G. B. White. 1997. Lake Erie Grape Farm Cost Survey 1991-95. Dept. Agric. Res. & Manag. Econ., Cornell Univ. E.B. 97-18.

 

White, G.B., B. Shaffer, R.M. Pool, and A Lalor. 1997. The economics of replanting generic wine grape varieties in New York. Dept. Agric. Res. & Manag. Econ., Cornell Univ. R.B. 97-05.