Bairds Wines - Wine of the USA (California) by Mail Order

<p> So-called 'Mission' vines were brought to California by Spanish monks to make sacramental wine around 1769 and the first commercial wine production was recorded in 1824. The Californian Gold Rush in 1849 led to a wine boom, with vine plantings in the Sierra foothills. Hungarian Agaston Haraszthy introduced European grape varieties to California in 1851 with considerable success. Disaster struck in 1870 when Phylloxera (endemic in Eastern USA) reached California and the Napa, Sonoma and Sacramento areas were badly hit. The industry had barely recovered when Prohibition (1920-1933) disallowed production of wines for any but medicinal or sacramental purposes (although there was a boom in "grape juice" for use at home!). The last decades have seen tremendous growth in the production of quality Californian wine</p>