The Kansas Wine Industry is GROWING (Again) | The Wine Break Podcast #96

The Wine Break

So I came across a pretty interesting headline in the Wine Enthusiast email. Normally I don't fall for clickbait and that kind of stuff but this was definitely news to me. It was talking about the wine scene in Kansas. And how it was once a HUGE player in the wine industry. I'd never heard that before. Have you? If you have, impressive.
It turns out prohibition really shook things up. I've mentioned how Italian wines dominated in California before prohibition, and after it gave French grapes a chance to catch up. Well it seems like the Kansas wine industry was booming before prohibition. Isn't that crazy? If it weren't for prohibition, we'd have a lot more Italian wines in California and be seeing a lot more wines from Kansas. Maybe. Or maybe everything still would've worked out how it did.
And it turns out Kansas wasn't the only big wine grower in the midwest. Missouri was huge, too. In fact, in the 1800s, 80% of the wine from the US came from Kansas and Missouri! Can you believe that? But then, towards the end of the 1800s, Kansas actually banned alcohol on its own. Like before prohibition. They were tired of being the leader in wine production, I guess.
A lot of vineyards kept on making wine illegally or they would just sell to other states. This went on until 1948, when prohibition in Kansas finally ended. But it wasn't until 1983 that wine production and sale became legal again. That's right. That seems like it's relatively recently, right? This is crazy stuff.
So prohibition really took the wind out of Kansas' wine sales. But they're coming back now. So I'm really interested to see what happens. According to data from 2018, Missouri is currently ranked #10 in the US for number of wineries. That's pretty awesome, good for them. They have 233! Bet you didn't see that coming. Kansas is at #32 with 55 wineries. So while they're not a ton, they really were just giving other states a big head start.
Anyway, if you find yourself traveling to Kansas or through it, now you know it has a history of wine and it's up and coming in terms of wine. I'm excited to hear this and also to realize just how many wineries there are across the US, in states you probably hadn't considered. That's all I have today. Cheers to Kansas and Missouri for being pioneers in wine in the United States. And of course, cheers to you.
Show notes:
https://www.winemag.com/2021/09/23/kansas-wine-guide-history/
https://vinepair.com/articles/map-america-states-most-wineries/