The 32nd President Franklin Roosevelt had summed up the feelings of most Americans nine months earlier that year, when he signed a law allowing sales of beer and wine with less than 4 percent alcohol (by volume), a small step toward repeal.
On Dec. 5, 1933, when Utah became the 36th American state to ratify the 21st Amendment, repealing the 18th Amendment there was a ratification convention in Salt Lake City that day. An official from the Mormon Church told delegates, "This country is never going back again. I don't know where it is going in the future, but it is not going backward,"
Seventy five years later, the memories seem distant. American drank 306 million cases of wine (India gulped 12, 00, 000!). They overtook Italy in terms of wine consumption last year and are on their way to overtake France and become the world's largest wine consumer by volume within five years, reports Wine Spectator.
But in many ways, the legacy of Prohibition is still alive. American attitudes toward wine have kept moving forward, but there's still a long way to go toward universal acceptance.
The 18th Amendment outlawed the "manufacture, transportation or sale of intoxicating liquors." The Volstead Act, the law passed to implement and oversee Prohibition, defined intoxicating liquors as anything over 0.5 percent alcohol.
In 1922, the United States had 919 wineries in 19 states, including 694 in California. By 1933, there were just 268 left in 16 states, including 177 in California. Those that survived did so by taking advantage of loopholes in the Volstead Act-wineries could make sacramental wine for churches and synagogues, doctors could prescribe "medicinal" alcohol and could sell grapes or grape concentrate to home winemakers.
Some wineries sold illegally to bootleggers, though the customers usually preferred hard spirits; people looking to imbibe wanted bang for their buck. But plenty of other wineries simply gave up and Napa vineyards were converted to make room for fruit trees.
Backlash to Prohibition
Backlash soon developed to the prohibitionists' "noble experiment," as organized crime, bootlegging and speakeasies filled the void left by saloons and wineries. The Great Depression put the final nail on the coffin. The government suddenly saw the alcohol industry as valuable. Shortly after FDR's election in November 1932, Congress quickly moved to introduce a repeal Amendment.
Damage Done
Prohibition set the American wine industry back by at least three decades. The disruption to wineries meant most winemakers had to learn everything all over again. Growers also faced a big problem. Because home winemaking had been legal, vineyard acreage had actually increased during Prohibition. But good wine grapes had been replaced by grapes suited for long journeys in railcars to home winemakers in the East. Grapes with thick skins that wouldn't bruise or rot easily had become more fashionable to grow even if they were not the best for making fine wine.
Wine's image tarnished
What's more, the 21st Amendment didn't actually legalize alcohol sales—it simply gave the power of regulation back to the states. The patchwork of "blue laws" and the three-tier distribution system are Prohibition's legacies. Mississippi didn't legalize alcohol sales until 1966. Plenty of counties are still dry. In some states, the government controls liquor distribution or sales.
And government control of alcohol sales continues to denote wine as something dangerous- until recently it was overseen by the federal agency also supervising tobacco and firearms.
Moving Forward
Today, the USA has more than 5,500 wineries, according to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Two of the biggest wine producing states, Washington and Oregon, weren't even on the radar 75 years ago. Many marketers are challenging the distribution regulations created by states after repeal. Direct shipping is becoming an important part of business for small wineries. And the fastest growing market segment for wine sales is young drinkers, ages 21 to 30.
Over the past few years, "Repeal Day" has become an unofficial holiday. On Tuesday, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America held a media event in the ballroom at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
If it gives you too much of a sense of déjà vu, you are not to blame. India is a federal state like the US. States have the powers to sell alcohol or impose prohibition like in Ahmedabad. It was also imposed in Haryana for a few years but failed miserably. The distribution laws are still chaotic as the states act independently of other states. Government still lumps wine with alcohol and all efforts to delink it from hard liquor have not been successful.
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