(Wines&Vines) - The wine industry in New York state is recognized today as a major player in the world of wine. While the Finger Lakes American Viticultural Area (AVA) often gets much of the attention, especially for its Riesling wines, there are four other AVAs in New York: the Hudson River region, Long Island, the Niagara Escarpment and the Lake Erie region. Also known as the Chautauqua region, the Lake Erie AVA is the largest grapegrowing region east of the Rockies with more than 18,500 acres of vineyard. There are now more than 400 wineries, and the grape and wine industry—with its value-added multiplier effect—generates some $5 billion annually in economic benefits for New York state, including 25,000 full-time equivalent jobs, $1.14 billion in wages, $553 million in winery sales, $52 million in grape sales and $71.6 million in grape juice sales.

A major factor in the growth of the New York wine industry has been the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, a private, non-profit trade association that was created by legislation signed into law by then-Gov. Mario M. Cuomo in 1985. This year, consequently, is the foundation’s 30th anniversary. Funded by a combination of New York state funds and private-sector partners and contributors, the overall goal of the foundation, according to Jim Trezise, the group’s president since its inception, has been “to have the New York grape and wine industry recognized as a world leader in quality, productivity and social responsibility.” And the result of 30 years of hard work on the part of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation and many grapegrowers, winery owners, winemakers and researchers is the creation a state-wide wine industry poised to achieve even greater success in the future.

As Phyllis Feder, owner of Clinton Vineyards in Clinton Corners, N.Y., and former chair of the board of directors of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, explained, “The New York wine industry went through some dark days, but now has emerged into the bright sunlight. The impetus for the growth of the industry is due to the foundation; they’ve been an effective presence in (the state capitol of) Albany, and made us visible as an industry. The effectiveness of the foundation is reflected in the overall interest in, and excitement about, the state’s wineries. The industry has grown tremendously, in part because of the hard work of the foundation.”

In contrast with today, the future did not look at all bright for the grape and wine industry in New York in the spring of 1985, when the bill establishing the New York Wine and Grape Foundation was passed. The previous December, one of New York’s largest wineries, the Taylor Wine Co., then owned by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, announced that they were canceling all grape contracts for both Taylor and Gold Seal Vineyards (also owned by Seagram’s), and that grapes would be purchased on the open market the following year. Prices for all grape varieties in New York fell to $105 per ton.