Ohio River Valley

Largest US AVA area, covering 64,000 km² (6.4 million hectares) and spanning the four US states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. Of course, not the entire area is planted with vines. The eponymous 1,579-kilometre-long Ohio River is formed by the union of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). It flows through a total of six states and flows into the Mississippi at Cairo (Illinois). The origin of viticulture dates back to 1798, when the Kentucky Vineyard Society was founded. At one time, the Ohio River Valley was the largest wine-growing region in North America. However, the American War of Secession (1861-1865) so decimated the local population that few were left to tend the vineyards. In the following years, the vineyards were devastated by powdery mildew. The devastating blow to viticulture in this region came with National Prohibition (1920-1933). When the second wine revolution began in the early 1960s, the historic Ohio River Valley region experienced a resurgence with dozens of wineries along the Ohio River. The wineries in the four US states produce wines primarily from the hybrid varieties Baco Noir, Maréchal Foch, Seyval Blanc and Vidal Blanc, as well as the European varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Riesling.

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Ohio River Valley

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