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Article: Lake County. (viticulture)(A Wines and Vines Special Report: Harvest 1997)
- Article from:
- Wines & Vines
- Article date:
- February 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Wines & Vines. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Red Soil, Red Grapes, but not Red Ink
Land suitable for high-quality vineyards is in short supply. Affordable land in this category is rarer still.
It's become an open secret that the red dirt of Lake County is capable of producing outstanding red grape varieties. That it is relatively affordable is making it doubly attractive to vineyard developers and the boom is on.
Plantings in the area actually began in the 1870s and, by the turn of the century, Lake County's reputation for quality had encouraged growth to over 5,000 vineyard acres. However, the passage of prohibition in 1919 killed the industry in Lake County and replanting of vineyards didn't ...