American Wine

The first American vineyards were planted in 1607 in Virginia, but destiny lay further west. Spanish monks planted the first California vineyard in 1779. By the 19th century, the Spanish were joined by French, German, Italian and Hungarian immigrants and by the end of the Civil war, there were wineries in the Napa Valley. New York didn't get its first winery until 1895 and by Prohibition, America was well on its way to a world-class wine industry.

Prohibition crippled the American wine industry, and the country's love affair with beer and distilled spirits didn't help things. Today, however the California wine industry is world-class, Oregon and Washington are getting there and every state of the union produces wine, even Alaska. The big three states, though, are California, Oregon, and Washington.