Are you a California winery looking for local data to enhance your website, or provide context for your wine tour? Are you a wine writer or an industry professional and need information on a specific wine region? Websites of regional wine associations can be an important local data source for wine industry professionals.
About half of the 147 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in California are supported by regional associations. They are mostly non-profit organizations of various sizes. Some have staff, others only volunteers. The role of the association is to promote the distinct wine region on behalf of the vineyards and the wineries. Some organizations represent vintners, others represent just the growers but many associations support both. Several associations support multiple AVAs.
In reviewing more than 50 regional wine association websites for the “Mapping California Wineries” post, potentially useful data sources for the wine industry were identified:
Facts and Figures
About half of the association websites have some basic information about the wine region. These fact sheets come in a variety of formats but often include the number of wineries and acres, as well as topography and geography figures. Some fact sheets identify the grape varieties, including the number of acres.
The fact sheets are often used by the media and are therefore found in the press area. Examples of such fact sheets are the Mt. Veeder Appellation Council and the Napa Valley Vintners. Some organizations have this information built into their website, easier to modify but harder to download. Examples of associations using web-based facts are the Santa Barbara Vintners and Anderson Valley Wines.
Economic Impact Reports
The recently released WineAmerica Report emphasized the importance of determining the impact of the wine industry on the economy. This impact is also significant at the local level. There are a handful of associations that have done economic impact reports. Two examples are the San Diego County Economic Impact of Wineries (2022) and the Economic Impact Study of the Paso Robles AVA.
These economic impact reports are costly and most AVAs don’t have the resources for these studies. County-level impact reports can be used if the boundaries of the AVA are similar. For example, Santa Barbara Vintners lists three Santa Barbara County reports on its website.
Vineyard Census and Other Studies
Many associations do a vineyard census every few years. Survey questions for the wineries are related to the size of the vineyard and the varietals. The survey data are used for fact sheets, annual reporting, website content, and marketing materials. In 2019, Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association published a brief report on their census results.
The Napa Valley Grape Growers has published a series of interesting studies, including a Growing Conditions Report, a Hang Time Study, as well as Cost and Employment Studies. Other associations have put resources into researching the trends of the local market. For example, Lake County Wine Grape Association hired research consultants to study the supply and demand of the county’s grape market.
Regional wine associations provide useful data for professionals in the wine industry. Fact sheets, as well as maps, are the most common type of information found on websites. Economic impact reports and cost studies are less common but could provide important information to the industry and the community.
Here is the list of regional associations in California supporting wine makers and grape growers.
