For 100 years, the magazine Wines and Vines (formerly called California Grape Grower) has written about Californian wine news. To launch a wine magazine in the United States in 1919, just a few months before the prohibition started in January 1920, may not seem as the smartest of ideas.
On the other hand, nobody thought then that the prohibition would last for thirteen years. The first issue encouraged the wine growers not to tear down their vines and suggested alternative uses for the 400,000 tons of grapes produced annually in California. During the years up to 1933, the newspaper gave advice to frustrated wine growers on grape cultivation and how to make grape juice, grape jelly and grape jam.
In December 1933 prohibition was finally over and wine producers such as L.M. Martini, Wente, Korbel, Beaulieu, Beringer and Inglenook could continue to develop the Californian wine industry.
Read the fascinating story, 100 years of California wines here: winesandvines.
