5 Facts You Didn't Know About America's Wine Regions

The Fourth of July may have come and gone, but it's not too late to examine wines made in the USA. A new interactive map of America's wine regions made by The New York Times sheds new light on just how far the U.S. has come to become a major player in the global wine industry. 

It's no surprise that wine regions across the U.S. have continued to gain a foothold in the global wine business, notes The New York Times, particularly in Virginia. But it's official that now, each of the 48 states in the mainland of America has a winery. (Surprisingly, The New York Times' map doesn't include Hawaii or Alaska, but the footnotes note that both states each have nine wineries. Don't be hating on the outliers, The New York Times!) Here's what we learned about the wine regions of the U.S.: 

• The states with the fewest number of wineries: Mississippi and Wyoming, each with five wineries. Even the Nevada deserts are home to more wineries, with seven wineries across the state. 

• Very unsurprisingly, the state with the largest number of wineries is California. Its 3,839 wineries (nearly half of all U.S. wineries) account for more than 90 percent of the country's wine production. 

• California's wines add up to $62 billion in economic impact, and the next biggest player, New York, and its wine doesn't even come close — $3.8 billion. (Don't worry Finger Lakes, we still love you and your wines.) 

• A large factor for Oregon's wine success is thanks to California; winemakers moved north when land prices in California started rising in the 1960s. Many were even trained at California schools, like the University of California, Davis. 

• The first Virginian winemaker came long before Virginia's current boom: it was Thomas Jefferson, back in the 1700s. Good thing we can still drink like Jefferson (and the Founding Fathers) today. 

Check out The New York Times' map to get a sense of the wineries in your state.