Upper Mississippi Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the northern United States, stretching for 500 miles (800km) along the Upper Mississippi River. This appellation, covering 30,000 square miles (77,000 sq km), is the largest AVA in North America and the largest designated wine-producing region in the world. Cold-hardy hybrid varieties such as Marechal Foch and Edelweiss do best in the region's cold continental climate.
The Upper Mississippi Valley AVA covers an area that was formed by glacial retreat in the last Ice Age and is geologically different from the surrounding landscape, which was the basis for the establishment of the AVA in 2009. The region covers land in the south-eastern corner of Minnesota, beginning just south of Minneapolis, and also takes in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.
For more-detailed information about this AVA, see Upper Mississippi Valley – Iowa.
