Wine and Vines reported yesterday some statistics about the number of wineries in the United States. As of April 2010 there are 6590 wineries in the US. That makes our task of visiting these wineries and writing about them rather daunting. We’ve visited 465 wineries to date however some of those were in Canada, United Kingdom and Italy.

It is interesting as we travel to hear people make some unusual claims. A tasting room attendant at a Virginia winery was over heard telling travelers from California that Virginia has almost as many wineries as California. It must be the new math they are teaching. Or some people from New Jersey claiming their state is the second largest wine producing state in the country. More new math.

So what are the numbers as reported by Wine and Vines? Here is the current list of the top ten wineries.

California                       3115
Washington                    593
Oregon                              502
New York                          259
Virginia                            176
Texas                                 172
Pennsylvania                  149
Ohio                                  129
Michigan                         119
North Carolina               109

The lion’s share of wineries is in California representing 47% of US wineries. Virginia and Texas seem to move back and forth for fifth place depending on what statistics are used. Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina are also very close. In any event, the number of wineries is increasing. The 6590 wineries in the US are up from 4740 just five years ago.

There are only so many wine drinkers. Is the United States wine industry over producing wine? Or will wine enthusiasts continue to see the opening of hundreds of new wineries over the next five years?