California Wines - Their Struggle To The Top
By Robert Byrnes

Most in the know would agree that when it comes to wine there has been a high occurrence of snobbery within the wine growing community. Over many years it has been established that France was heads and shoulders above all the wine growing regions and that there was no place that equaled France. Well guess what? Over quite a few years, and a very hard struggle the state of California changed this outlook and turned world opinion upside down. Even though the struggle wasn't easy California wines have become well-known and now are considered on par and sometimes even superior to all vineyards of the world.

Over time there has been a long tradition of growing vineyards in areas like the Napa Valley in California. Actually going back in history the first vineyard was planted by a Franciscan missionary in the year 1769. This set the stage for a tremendous commercial enterprise to begin in the state of California for the start of the 20th century. Unfortunately the United States government intervened and introduced prohibition-the timing couldn't have been worse and the planting and cultivation of a fledgling wine enterprise was dealt a devastating setback during this time of alcohol prohibition in the USA.

This dry season between 1920 and 1933 had a disastrous effect on the wine industry in California. The only wine growers that semi prospered were those few wine growers who were in the health tonic market or those who supplied to the churches the Sacramental wines, but overall most wine growers went completely under. You can see how this put the California wine growers behind the eight ball from the get go. Of course the black market rose up and people secretly made wines in their back parlors. So the industry was in reality mostly gone because of prohibition and it took many years to get it started once again. For many suppliers the repeal of prohibition was way too late and they never recovered

Over the coming years of the next decades the motivation and determination of wine growers in California to produce very high quality grapes and to make their wines world renown brought about amazing results, even though throughout the world the resistance against California wine was very great. They did not want this new guy on the block butting in to their monopoly. But the California growers knew that they needed a world stage in which to display their product.

In 1976, however, came the memorable turning point: the world renown Paris Wine tasting competition. In the blind tasting sessions, the jury, composed of all French members, selected the California wines as the best in every category. As a result, everyone's attitude toward these prime selections started to change, and finally California began to receive its due recognition.

And for those few die-hards, further competitions held in 1986 and 2006 had the same results. As a matter of fact, the California wines seemed to have aged even better than the French ones. Some experts were of the opinion that the California wines were not only equal to the French ones, but in some instances surpassed them!

From then on the sky was the limit, and due to marketing expertise, California wines are available worldwide. No putting on airs now! And by introducing
California wines into the whole world, other wine producing countries such as Australia and Chile have also been able to take advantage of the open doors.

From a Franciscan missionary in 1769, to the fine wine industry today, a good glass of California grown Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Dolcetto, Chardonnay, Pinot Noire or Zinfandel can be ours to enjoy wherever we go. You've come a long way baby.

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