Top 100 red wines of Kansas

Discover the top 100 best red wines of Kansas as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the red wines that are popular of Kansas and the best vintages to taste in this region.

Discovering the wine region of Kansas

Kansas is a state located in the Center of the United States of America, which covers a little less than 200 500 km². The state is better known for its grain crops and sunflower products than for its wine production. However, there is a small but steadily growing wine industry in the eastern Part of the state, concentrated in the area near Kansas City and aLong the Kansas River. There are also a trio of wineries in the Wichita area.

Like its neighbor Missouri, Kansas has a long history of winemaking, which began with German winemakers living along the Missouri River in the mid-19th century. Before becoming the first state to ban the manufacture and sale of Alcohol in 1881, Kansas had one of the largest vineyards in the country: in fact, even in 1900, there were 2,000 acres of vines. Underground Grape growing continued during the early years of Kansas prohibition, supplying both Kansas and Missouri, but the national prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in 1920 put an end to the Kansas wine industry. Statewide prohibition in Kansas lasted until 1948, and alcohol laws remained restrictive until the late 1980s.

News from the vineyard of Kansas

Andrew Jefford: ‘2021 has been the year of all the miseries’

How’s the weather been this year? Awful. ‘La nature m’écoeure’, one of my wine-growing friends posted on Facebook on 8 April, having been out to look at the frost-crippled shoots on his vines that morning: ‘Nature disgusts me’. It takes a lot to make a wine-grower feel that. He wasn’t alone. Jeremiads echo around the northern hemisphere as 2021 closes. It’s been the year of all the miseries. None suffered more horribly than the growers of Germany’s Ahr valley, where floodwaters caused by the fou ...

Rhône Valley Wine Tour with Matt Walls

We are excited to announce the first of Decanter’s Wine Experiences, a series of carefully curated wine trips hosted by our regional wine specialists. Each trip is a carefully tailored once-in-a-lifetime experience that will grant guests access to the best vineyards, restaurants and wine experts of the region.   Starting with a trip to the Rhône valley, Matt Walls will be hosting the first Decanter Wine Experience, imparting his knowledge of the region which he has honed over the years while rep ...

2022 harvest: Labour shortages and Omicron ‘serious’ concerns for New Zealand

As the 2022 harvest in New Zealand gathers pace, increasing production costs and the on-going effects of the pandemic on border restrictions, markets, and supply chains have continued to impact the industry. Over the past 12 months the availability of labour has been a ‘huge concern’ for many growers and wineries, according to New Zealand Winegrowers. ‘The introduction of Omicron into the New Zealand community on the cusp of vintage 2022 is a very serious concern for growers and wineries, as thi ...

The best wines of Kansas in other styles