(TheStreet) - It's tough to overestimate just how far the United States has come as a wine producer since Prohibition.

If you ever get the chance, head to the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History and check out the corner of its food exhibit entitled Wine For The Table. Just beyond Julia Child's kitchen and cases dedicated to industrialized food production is featured exhibition on the Judgment At Paris, where American rose to prominence in the wine business. In 2015, the U.S. produced 768.1 million gallons of wine and ranks behind only France, Italy and Spain in total production, according to The Wine Institute industry organization in San Francisco.

Though 638 million gallons of that U.S. total still come from California, which would make that state among the Top 10 wine-producing countries in the world if it seceded tomorrow, wine shipments to the U.S. from all production sources — foreign and domestic —grew to 384 million cases in 2015. That's up 2% from 2014 and represents an estimated retail value of $55.8 billion. The U.S. has been the largest wine consuming nation in the world since 2010, but 51.2 million cases of wine exports were worth $1.61 billion to U.S. winemakers last year.

Imagine if the U.S. actually had a taste for wine. According to the Distilled Spirits Council, wine only accounts for about 17% of all U.S. alcohol sales -- lagging behind both spirits (35%) and beer (48%). While the U.S. consumes a lot of wine as a whole, its per-capita consumption of about two and a half gallons per person each year ranks behind more than 50 states and territories. Compared to the whopping 12 gallons of wine the average person in France drinks each year, it isn't even close.