Today we close out the agenda we set for ourselves when we hit the road in June visiting emerging wine regions in Southern Oregon and Idaho, learning to taste cold-hardy grape varietals in Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and expanding our understanding of Missouri, Kansas, and Texas wines. We visited about 100 wineries with the best reputations, sampled well over 1200 wines, and talked winemaking and viticulture with countless experts.

It’s time for a break from winery visits as we leave Texas and head west toward Northern California and a season of conferences and holidays in a wine region now tragically transformed by fires.

Although this was our 4th year traveling the U.S. in search of quality American wines, we are still finding new experiences and discovering wines we never knew existed. This is a vast country, wine has infiltrated every nook and cranny, and it is different in every locale. Some of it, even outside the storied regions of the West coast, is approaching world class quality.

After a rest, we look forward to next year’s trip.

Posts for Missouri, Kansas, and Texas are still to come. Stand by.

Cross posted on Edible Arts on 10/19/2017.