country around three lakes—Keuka, Seneca, and Canandaigua. The grape industry was started along Lake Keuka about fifty years ago. The first outdoor grapes were shipped to the New York market about 1847-'48 by the way of the Erie Canal. In 1860 the Lake Keuka grape industry was well rooted, and there were planted and in bearing about 250 acres.
At the present time there are about 10,500 acres of vineyards in the Lake Keuka district. To this should be added about 10,000 acres of vineyards in the Seneca and Canandaigua districts, making a total of 26,500 acres in the lake region. In the western part of the State is the Chautauqua district, which contains about 18,000 acres of vineyards. The Hudson River district, which was established about 1860, has about 14,000 acres of vines.
In 1890,[1] when the statistics of viticulture were gathered for the first time in the United States, it was found that New York State, with one fourth of the acreage of California, raised almost twice as many table grapes as the latter State. In other words, four fifths of the grapes grown in New York are for table purposes, while in California four fifths of the grapes are made into wine.
The American champagne district, as the Lake Keuka region has been known for some time, is fairly entitled to its name. More and better champagne is produced annually in this district than in any other section of the United States. The first wine company, the Pleasant Valley, was formed in 1860, and a few years later began making champagne. In 1865 the Urbana Wine Company was organized, with the object of making a superior American champagne. These two cellars each carry a stock of 1,000,000 bottles of champagne. There are five other cellars in the district, all making champagne, and ranging in capacity from 30,000 to 150,000 gallons.
East of the Rocky Mountains no champagne in any quantity is made outside of Ohio and New York. West of that great range considerable champagne has been made in one section of California, but the Eastern product is regarded by connoisseurs as more nearly approaching in quality the best French product. There is, and will be, a difference between the best American and French champagnes, owing to the variety of grapes and soils, but outside of that, as a chemical analysis will show, the difference is no greater than that between French champagnes produced in the several localities of the Champagne district.
It is now well understood that the golden qualities of vin
- ↑ In that season the New York growers shipped to market the enormous quantity of 60,687 tons, or 121,374,000 pounds, of table grapes, while California sold only 38,785 tons for the same purpose.
