Best Wine Counties Outside California

When you think of wine counties, wine tours and even award-winning wines, do you think of regions of Oregon, Washington State, Texas or Arizona?

You should. Our LawnStarter analysis of the best wine counties outside California found wine counties dot the U.S. map. That means some of the best wineries to visit are often much closer to home.

To help rank the best wine counties across the United States, LawnStarter compared more than 1,048 counties across 18 key relevant metrics, including:

• Visitor accommodations (hotels, motels, and inns in the area)
• Number of winery tours
• Number of wine producers
• Tasting options
• Number of vineyards
• Number of award-winning wines
• Great reviews 

Read on to discover the best wine counties outside California and for a full description of our methodology.

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Ask the Experts
3. Methodology

Best Wine Counties Outside California

Key Takeaways

Northwest is Best

Washington and Oregon dominate our top 10 Best Wine Counties Outside California list with two Washington counties and four Oregon counties in the top 10. 

The South’s Wine Belt

Arizona in the west has two counties in our top 20, Florida in the east has one county in those lofty ranks, and Texas is the buckle in this wine belt with three counties in the top 20. 

Wine and Roses … and Other Attractions

Some counties rank high because the attractions are as inviting as the wine. For example, you can sign up for at least 33 wine tours in Buncombe County, North County, including the author’s favorite at the Biltmore Estate.

Methodology

California was excluded from our rankings because the Golden State is almost synonymous with wine-making. We wanted in this study to spotlight the best wine counties outside California.

To help you find the best counties outside California for wine lovers, LawnStarter compared 1,260 counties across the U.S. across four main dimensions: 1) Accommodations, 2) Wine tours, 3) Producers and Origin, 4) Award-winning wines.

We evaluated these factors using 18 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights and the following scores:

Accommodations – Total Points: 30

• Number of Hotels: 10 Points
• Average Rating (out of 5*): 8 Points
• Number of Reviews: 6 Points
• Average Price: 6 Points

Wine Tours – Total Points: 27

• Number of Wine Tours: 10 Points
• Average Rating (out of 5*): 6 Points
• Number of Reviews: 6 Points
• Average Price: 5 Points

Producers & Origin – Total Points: 25

• Number of Producers: 20 Points
• Number of AVAs: 5 Points

Prizes – Total Points: 18

• 2018 Awards Count: 3 Points
• 2018 Gold Medal Wines: 3 Points
• 2018 Silver Medal Wines: 2 Points
• 2018 Bronze Medal Wines: 1 Point
• 2019 Awards Count: 3 Points
• 2019 Gold Medal Wines: 3 Points
• 2019 Silver Medal Wines: 2 Points
• 2019 Bronze Medal Wines: 1 Point

Sources: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Yelp, usawineratings.com

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock