WEST LAFAYETTE – A Purdue University group that supports Indiana’s wineries and vineyards says that industry is now one of the state’s fastest growing agricultural industries.
The Purdue Wine Grape Team says Indiana currently has 92 wineries, compared with just 34 wineries a decade ago.
Sales of Indiana-produced wine have steadily increased by 15 percent each year. The industry now produces more than 1 million gallons of wine annually, giving the state’s economy a more than $72 million boost each year.
Indiana was home to the nation’s first successful grape and wine production centers. Swiss immigrant John James Dufour planted successful grape cuttings in 1802 along the Ohio River in what’s now the Switzerland County seat of Vevay.
