By Sharon Stajda

It wasn't always wine and roses...

In the year of 1863 an unidentifiable disease hit the grape vines in Frances Rhone Valley. This disease was caused by an unknown louse, that was so small it was hard to see with the naked eye. This louse was destroying the very root of the vines, and wiping out vineyard after vineyard. The disease spread quickly through the country side, until all of Frances's vineyards were infected, and quickly becoming destroyed. How did this disease get it start?

The disease was called Phylloxera, and originated in the America. Between 1858 and 1862, vines were being exported from the America to Europe, and England. The Phylloxera disease was not as virulent in America due to the vines being much thicker in nature, and had a toughness that the louse could not denature. The solution to the problem was long in coming. They eventually came up with a successful solution to put a halt to the disease. Healthy Vinifera from America were sent to all countries that were effected by the Phylloxera disease. The vinifera's were grafted to the unhealthy vines , and new healthy vine emerged.

The wine industry has had many unaccepted problems through out its history, disease, economic problems, politics. In 1920 the U.S. Constitution passed the law of Prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment made it illegal to produce or consume alcoholic beverages. The impact to the wine growers was immediate. Many vineyards closed, and stood abandoned. Some growers however did stay in business making very low percentage alcohol wines. Wines that were permitted to still be made by law, contained ½ of 1% alcohol, and had a certain percent of salt added to them. The salt rendered the wine virtually un-drinkable. Wines with the lower percent alcohol could also be produced for religious Sacramental rites, and medicinal purposes.

Between the years of 1920 and 1925 wine production was cut from its 1919 production of 55 million gallons, to its 1925 decreased production of 3.5 million gallons.

Finally in 1933 Prohibition came to an end... But unfortunately the years of Prohibition had left there damage. The winemakers were long gone, and the taste for wine had diminished with a new generation of citizens. The new wineries had to start from scratch, and the first productions were said to be low in quality. It was a very long road back for the winemakers. Wine unfortunately had fallen out if vouge.

It was not until the 1950s that wine seemed to rally in the United States. It became the popular drink of the so called "in Crowd", and the drink of the status conscious. Famous cooks such as Julia Child were using wines in preparation of fine cuisine. Wine was popular again, and vineyards were popping up through out the coastal valley's of California....

To learn a bit about "pairing just the right wine to just the right food," visit my lens of the same name... White wine is as a rule acidic, keep in mind when choosing wine for acidic food, acid to acid.

 Please check out my other Lenses...To learn more about wine Under One Pergola !

I love wine, and have had so much fun writing, and building several  Squidoo lenses on the very subject. I wanted to make it easy, and convienent for my wine loving readers to have a look see at all my wine related sites, under one pergola - so to speak.  If you have stumbled into this page, and love wine?  I have put together some great informational lenses. So please stop in.

http://www.squidoo.com/sharswineinfo/