(Forbes) - California is the largest wine-producing state in the U.S. by far (<1800 wineries), followed by New York (>400), Washington (<300) and Oregon (>100). But none of the four states was first at American commercial wine–not even second. That ranking belongs to Kentucky and Ohio, respectively.

As of May 2016, the National Register of Historic Places recognizes Kentucky’s role as the first state in successful commercial wine production . The event was the result of one man who settled a southern-facing spot on a hill overlooking the Kentucky River, with the support of stockholders in the Kentucky Vineyard Society.

The year was 1796 when, after hearing of the lack of a viable wine industry in the U.S. from French soldiers who fought in the Revolution, a Swiss wine man, John James Dufour set out for North America. Dufour scouted the eastern portion of the country but settled by the Kentucky River. It helped that Dufour had at his disposal a large active shipping port nearby, at Quantico.

With the backing and help of some early American luminaries, including Patrick Henry, Henry Clay and Daniel Boone, Dufour’s First Vineyard was up and running by the spring of 1799. Not only was the Kentucky Vineyard Society the first commercial winery in the U.S., it was the first incorporated business in the Kentucky Commonwealth. 

By 1830, the Kentucky and Ohio river regions were teeming with new arrivals from Europe, many of whom established vineyards. The next major commercial wine success was Nicholas Longworth’s winery in the Ohio River Valley, close to Cincinnati, a venture that ended in catastrophe when disease wiped out the vineyards after about twenty years of success with a sparkling Catawba wine that inspired a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem. The Catawba grape is a field hybrid cross between Native American and European vines.