We have been talking about wines for several articles now, and onwww.boomeryearbook.com, we have been mentioning that boomers and wines are a combination that’s a big hit.

But then, for a country that is among the leading wine consumers of the world, wine production in the USA was seriously started only by the boomers of our generation. In other parts of the world, the history of wine making goes back to over 6000 years! But then, the history of wine making will be talked about in another article.

Wines have been in production in areas such as Napa Valley, California for over 150 years now, but thanks to various kinds of challenges – ranging from the unavailability of proper grape varieties to a repeated attack by disease; the world only noticed American wines in the late 1970s. That achievement was thanks to a local Chardonnay winning a blindtasting competition against several other popular French wines.

Now, America is among the top wine producing and exporting nations in the world (ranked 4^th and 7^th respectively). But the funny thing is that overseas, even today, if one is given a choice of an American wine and a French one, typically people prefer French ones, even if they are of a more recent vintage than the American ones. That is primarily due to the fact that most of the vintages here in the USA have been brought in from France and other regions in Europe, and possibly a little snobbery on the part of the Europeans.

But in the USA, except in elite restaurants that pride themselves on serving only French wines (god only knows why!), in most other places, American wines are considered to be equally good – if not better. And the price is lower too.

For the boomers who are used to a regular dose of wine, anything goes, as long as it’s red! Doesn’t it?