Napa was the second officially sanctioned wine-growing region in the US

Napa Valley, explained

Some of the most valuable agricultural land in the US is in California's Napa Valley. Located about an hour's drive north of San Francisco, Napa has more than 400 wineries employing upward of 44,000 people and drawing in nearly 4 million annual visitors. The price per acre in the valley can exceed $500K because some of the best wines in the world are grown and produced in the roughly 30-mile-long area.

The Judgment of Paris put Napa on the world stage

Napa wines burst onto the world stage in 1976 when a British wine merchant invited nine French wine experts for a blind tasting of French and Californian wines, meaning that the tasters would not know the origin of the wines as they sampled. Unexpectedly, Napa’s wines dominated the tasting. That tasting, called the Judgment of Paris, was the catalyst for California being taken seriously by the global wine community.

Napa produces only 4% of California's wine

Despite its reputation, the Napa Valley has a modest share of its state's annual wine production. The valley's over 400 wineries produce only 4% of the state’s wine.

The Gold Rush helped turn Napa into wine country

In the 1830s, the arrival of settlers carrying European rootstock grapevines to Napa kick-started the valley's wine industry. Ten years later, the Gold Rush brought scores of wine-loving Europeans and their descendants to the area. Recognizing an opportunity, Charles Krug opened the valley's first commercial winery in 1861, which produces bottles to this day.

Napa Valley was originally inhabited by the Indigenous Wappo people

Before the wineries, Napa was home to several Indigenous tribes, collectively called the Onasatis or Wappo, who lived and hunted on the land for generations before Spanish missionaries and settlers arrived. Some of their practices, like controlled burns of the dry brush, helped shape the fertility of the land for future agriculture.

Mexican Americans have become a part of Napa's tradition

While the Napa wine world was largely homogenous for many decades, things are beginning to change. This short video highlights Mexican American winemakers in Napa, focusing on the story of Elias Fernandez of Shafer Vineyards. Fernandez began his wine journey as a migrant grape-picker and has been making wine for over 40 years. In 2008, his vintage won Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year.

Napa's growing conditions are unique

The French term "terroir" refers to the "sense of place" that growing conditions impart on a wine. Because the Napa Valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides, the combination of cold air from the Pacific coast and warm air from inland leaves Napa's wine with a distinct terroir.

Wildfires have seriously affected Napa's winemaking

If there’s a single thing that has defined the last decade of California winemaking, it’s the effects of climate change, particularly wildfires. To avoid the threats of wildfires, some vineyards have pivoted to more heat-tolerant grapes.

There are more than three dozen grape varieties in Napa

Cabernet sauvignon is Napa’s most popular grape, accounting for 40% of production, followed by chardonnay.

There's a legal loophole behind California Champagne

In the late 19th century, sparkling wine production took root in California before France began the fight to own the term “Champagne.” Many American winemakers already used it for easy recognition. The battle continued for over a century before reaching an agreement in 2005, stipulating that American sparkling wine couldn’t be labeled as Champagne unless the producer was already calling it such.

Santa Barbara County features seven designated wine regions

Grapes are notoriously fickle about where they grow and cannot be cultivated just anywhere. That’s what makes the county’s seven American Viticultural Areas so unique and cool—from the Santa Ynez valley to the Los Olivos District.

The numbers on US wine consumption

Ever wonder how much wine the average American drank in 1949? Wonder no more! The answer is 0.89 gallons. That’s way less than 2022, where the number has quadrupled to 2.86 gallons. Check out this simple table that tracks average United States wine consumption from 1934 through 2022, by individuals and as a whole. American wine consumption peaked during the early pandemic but has lessened since then.

A group of daring bootleggers created NASCAR

When Prohibition made alcohol illegal in 1920, it didn’t stop Americans from making and consuming it. The law drove the practice underground. Runners risked their lives to deliver moonshine and began racing among themselves.

The Safe Drinking Water Act protects tap water for Americans

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Natural food stores began sprouting up in the US in the 1960s and 1970s

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The best beer cities in the US

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Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

The preferred barbecue sauce depends on your location

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Bank of America helped establish Visa as a global credit card network business after it rolled out its first credit cards.

At the time, those credit cards were called "BankAmericards." Today, Bank of America owns less than a 2% share of Visa—many other banks (as well as institutional investors) help govern and profit from the network.

Not all public lands are part of the National Park System

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Native Americans were not granted US citizenship until 1924

The Indian Citizenship Act granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the US, more than 130 years after the Constitution's ratification. Even then, some states continued to deny Native Americans the right to vote for decades.

There is no clear national standard of laws for autonomous vehicle

Some US states allow self-driving vehicles to operate without a human driver present, while others require a licensed driver to be behind the wheel. As of January 2023, a total of 21 states have legalized autonomous vehicles in public, with six focused solely on semi-trucks.

The head of MGM Studios created the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to combat unionization efforts

The organization, which votes for the Academy Awards, was founded in 1927 by Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM Studios, to stifle labor disputes and maintain the public image of the film industry. "I found that the best way to handle them was to hang medals all over them,” Mayer said, according to Scott Eyman's biography of the studio head.

Find an accredited credit union near you

The National Credit Union Administration is to credit unions what the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is to traditional banks—it insures deposits of up to $250,000 per customer per account. This lookup tool allows you to search for nearby credit unions so you can check that a business is accredited by the NCUA before you begin your banking journey.

The Vietnam Women's Memorial was the first monument to American military women on the Mall

Dedicated in 1993, the Vietnam Women's Memorial became the first monument on the National Mall honoring American military women and recognizing the estimated 11,000 women who served in Vietnam.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

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At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

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The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

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The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

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Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

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Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement