USA

An increasingly important wine producing country, now the fourth largest in the world. The industry was almost completely decimated during Prohibition but it gained a lot of fame after the so called “Judgment in Paris” in 1976 when California wines beat the best of France in a blind tasting organized by Stephen Spurrier. Today there are more than 7500 wineries across every state in the country, including Alaska and Hawaii. However, 95% of all wine is produced in just four states: California, Washington, Oregon and New York.

Grapes are native to the US, but these are rarely used to make wine. However, they play an important role in the wine industry, both in crosses with European Vitus Vinifera and as rootstocks for Vitis Vinifera vines throughout the world. The so-called American vine species are resistant to the Phylloxera louse which devastated Europe’s vineyards in the late 19th Century and since 1900, most of the world’s vitis vinifera vines are grafted to American rootstock.