The Lake Erie AVA is an American Viticultural Area that includes 2236800 acre of land on the south shore of Lake Erie in the U.S. states of Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. Over 42000 acre of the region are planted in grapevines, predominantly in the Concord grape variety.

History

Grapes were first cultivated in the area during the early nineteenth century, and many wineries survived Prohibition in the twentieth century by legally selling grapes to home winemakers, marketing their products solely for religious purposes such as kosher wines (which continues to the present day), converting to grape juice production for local companies such as Welch's, or illegally selling wine to consumers in Canada. The wine industry in the Lake Erie region did not thrive after the repeal of Prohibition, however, and by 1967 there were fewer than twenty commercial wineries in the area. Recently, Lake Erie wineries have begun planting and vinifying Vitis vinifera varieties in an attempt to improve wine quality.

Geography

The region has a humid continental climate (Dfa/Dfb) and the hardiness zone ranges from 6a in higher areas to 7a in some lakefront areas.