When Kansas Was America’s Napa Valley

Before Prohibition, German Immigrants Created a "New Rhineland"

Located in the northeastern corner of Kansas, Doniphan County’s eastern edge is shaped like a jigsaw puzzle piece, carved away by the flowing waters of the Missouri River. The soil is composed of deep, mineral-rich silty loess and limestone, making it ideal for farming—and, it turns out, for growing grapes and making wine.

California wasn’t always America’s winemaking leader. During the mid-19th century, that distinction went to Kansas and neighboring Missouri, where winemakers and grape-growers led the U.S. wine industry in production. Bold entrepreneurs, industrious Kansas farmers—many of them German-speaking …

All California Is Wine Country—and the Wildfires Make It More So

Our Thriving Vineyards Put People in Harm's Way, but They Also Bind Us Together

The deaths and damage of this year’s Wine Country wildfires are a historic disaster. They are also the product of an epic California success.

That triumph is the growth of the …

The Power of Pinot

My relationship to wine falls somewhere between wine snob and wino. No boxed Rosé for me, please, but I have no need for that $150 Burgundy, either. Wine is my …