Can wine become an American habit?

Editor's note:  Every Sunday, Fortune publishes a favorite story  from our magazine archives . This week, we turn to a feature from 1934 on the U.S. wine industry (original headline: "The Wines of the U.S."). Prohibition, which lasted for just under 14 years before it was repealed on December 5, 1933, decimated the U.S. commercial wine industry. After the repeal, American  winemakers and merchants had to play a serious game of catch up, both in their quest to make decent wines and in converting U.S. drinkers.

Can wine become a national habit? Several people, not altogether disinterestedly, have set out to make it one. But even in the world's greatest grape-growing country, there are many obstacles.


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