Wine was not always popular in the New World. While grapes are indigenous to North America, these grapes did not make very good wine.

The European settlers in North American complained that the grapes produced wine that was "foxy", or grapey in flavour. Europeans even tried to transplant vines from the Old World, but these were quickly destroyed by the harsh winters in the Eastern North American region. Instead of drinking wine, these early colonists drank hard cider, beer and whisky.

The enjoyment of wine did not become popular in the New World until the latter part of the 19th century. California began planting many vineyards and their wines soon earned international acclaim. The wine industry in North America was growing rapidly until Prohibition halted production of alcohol for thirteen years.

The wine industry of North America did not recover from the effects of Prohibition until the 1950s and 1960s. Wine drinking became especially popular during the administration of JFK. Americans began to crave all things European. They wanted French food and wines to match that food.

In California efforts were made to emulate popular French wines. These efforts eventually paid off and today California wines rank among some the highest quality in the world.

Today, Americans drink more wine than they ever have before. The western regions of the New World have a different story concerning the success of the cultivation of grapes. Spanish missionaries developed most of South America, Mexico and California. They built a series of missions up the West Coast of California. These missions were very successful with the production of wine. Most of the wine they produced was for sacramental purposes, however, and the drinking of wine for pleasure was not widely advocated until the Mexican government took over the missions in the mid 19th century.

In South America the mass production of wine did not begin until Spanish rule ended in the 19th century. Even then, wine drinking was not very popular. It wasn't until wealthy South Americans started bringing wine back from their travels that the wine boom occurred. Currently nations such as Chile and Argentina export fine wines to nations all over the world.