Wine Industry

In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution created yet another setback for the American wine industry. The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, delivery, or possession of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes. Unfortunately, this act lasted thirteen years, nearly destroying what had become a thriving national industry. One loophole in the Volstead Act allowed the manufacture and sale of sacramental wines, medicinal wines for sale by pharmacists with a doctor's prescription, and medicinal wine tonics (fortified wines) sold without a prescription. Perhaps more importantly, prohibition allowed anyone to produce up to two hundred gallons yearly of fruit juice or cider. The fruit juice, which was sometimes made into a concentrate, was ideal for making wine. People would buy grape concentrate from California and have it shipped to the East Coast. The top of the container was stamped in big bold letters: Caution: do not add sugar or yeast, or else fermentation will take place! Some of this yeast found its way to bootleggers throughout America who did just that.