If you’re a wine travel lover, chances are you’ve already experienced and enjoyed visiting a wine trail. Did you know there are almost 100 officially designated wine trails in the United States? Defined as a cluster of wineries geographically located together in a wine growing area, these trails are becoming more popular, and prevalent, for a variety of reasons.

Why Visit A Wine Trail?

The U.S. wine industry, along with state and local tourism agencies, have been actively promoting wine travel tourism in one form or another for at least 10 years. With more people seeking simpler travel plans, attractions within a half day’s drive have become increasingly popular. In addition, seeing how something is grown and produced holds an allure for many. Visiting a U.S. wine trail gives travelers an engaging, educational experience that’s affordable and convenient.

How Is A Trail Designated?

Almost always, official trail designation is a joint effort between a state tourism bureau, department of transportation, and wineries.

Typically, state laws or guidelines designate certain highways as part of a wine trail. The practical result allows winery owners to buy signs with a directional arrow pointing to their wineries. The signs are placed by the transportation department and are usually green or purple with a grape cluster logo.

These colorful signs allow visitors and tourists to easily locate wineries via standardized signage, instead of looking for each individual winery sign. The desired effect is to promote the state’s wine industry as a tourist attraction.

Do All States Have Wine Trails?

The short answer is “no”, but there are several factors involved.

Many states see the value in granting an official designation. It is commonly viewed as promoting agricultural tourism, a booming segment of the travel and tourism industry. Further, numerous states promote these trails as an easily reachable local destination, seeking to attract weekend or day trip travelers and capitalizing on a healthy tourism climate.

Even though all 50 states have at least one winery, wine trail designation isn’t an automatic. There are numerous reasons, including tourism priorities and lobbying strength among local wineries. Some states have led the way, specifically New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, and several others.

These states devote considerable effort to support their collective wine industries, and recognize the positive economic impact of specialty travel. Pennsylvania and Michigan, for example, both have very comprehensive and updated web sites for their wine producing areas. In addition, most individual trails have their own promotional web sites and brochures, cross promoting not only wineries, but other local attractions as well.

Conversely, some states choose to simply promote an overall area vs. specifically focusing on wineries. While the rationale varies from state to state, it is important to remember one overriding factor. Wine trail designation is a relatively new trend, and many states seem to be on the verge of adopting the practice. In 2007 and early 2008, four new trails were designated in the U.S., with more expected in 2009 and beyond.

We view official wine trail designation as a growing trend, namely because the economics make sense. Specialty travel, and the wine industry in particular, are an important part of each state’s economy. With agritourism on the rise, the economic impact of wine travel continues to grow. As a result, it’s expected we’ll be seeing more and more purple and green grape cluster signs, pointing the way to a great winery just around the bend.

Autor: Jim Hofman