As a winegrowing paradise, California has always been blessed with loads of sunlight and beneficent weather, allowing it to ripen wine grapes almost anywhere.
But in the early years, distinctiveness was nonexistent. In the era between the end of Prohibition (1933) and the end of World War II, pretty much every wine made here was generic and was relatively inexpensive.
Some people knew fine California wine was possible. One of the earliest was a 1940s East Coast wine merchant by the name of Frank Schoonmaker, who suggested in a book that California focus on individual varietals.
By the 1960s, we began to see grapes like chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel appearing on labels. And by the early 1970s, it was obvious that not all grapes did well in all regions….