myths and legends.

Being in the wine business I have heard stories that I will admit I passed on as truths. They produce nice stories but may not be the absolut truth. Zinfandel and Italians was one such story.
Seems that a man named George Gibbs brought the first plantings to the US where they landed in New York state in the 1830s'. Eventually they migrated to california in the gold rush days by New Englanders. So when the Italian migration came in the late 1800's there were already old vines in existence. The Italians did help keep the zin plants growing because of their tradition of wine with meals.

Prohibition also played a big factor in keeping the california wine trade from expanding until the 1960's. We know that time period known as prohibition killed the bottled wine trade but there was a thriving home brewing business. wineries would send bricks of dehydrated grapes to homes. this caused people for years after prohibition to continue making their own, asking the question why buy a bottle when I can make it cheaper myself. It took the passing of that generation before Napa and Sonoma could come into the vision they are today.

Another interesting feature due to Prohibition is the laws regarding labeling of grapes on a bottle. In france they label place not varietal, in california before prohibition the standard bottling of wine was a mixed blend of local varieties, petite sirah, zinfandel, alicante bouchet, dourif, etc. After prohibition the law became a wine must be labeled by its variety and since most wine drinkers knew of cabernet and chardonnay those grape types began to be planted more often. Zinfandel is actually the 3rd most planted grape in california behind cab and merlot.

we have a lot to give credit to carrie nation and her bunch for...good or bad...mostly bad as the grand experiment failed on many levels.