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But it was Thomas Jefferson who ignited the country's love affair with French wine. As the young government's envoy to Paris from 1784 to 1789, he had ample opportunity to sample France's best bottles. After his return to the United States, he shipped cases of Bordeaux, Sauternes, and Champagne to the White House, serving the precious vintages at state dinners. Jefferson also experimented in wine-making, growing European vines at his home in Virginia, Monticello.

In the 1870s, when a minute yellow insect wreaked havoc on Europe's vineyards, it was native American vines that saved them. Called phylloxera, the tiny bug attacked vine roots, spreading through French vineyards at a rate of forty miles a year. In 1881, researchers at
France's University of Montpelier discovered that American vines were resistant to phylloxera, and French vintners began grafting their varietals onto the new world rootstock, ending the epidemic and saving France's wine industry. In gratitude, the French invited Californian winemakers to present their wines at the 1889 World's Fair, where they garnered 20 prizes.

Yet, blighted by Prohibition, America's wine industry didn't start to flourish until the 1960s. California vintners began with French
wine-making techniques, and incorporated methods based on American research. In 1976, the legendary Paris Tasting shook the foundations of
French wine supremacy. In a blind tasting, a panel of top French wine experts declared California wines superior to French bottles of the same varietal. The decision shocked the industry, placing American vintages on the same level with their French counterparts.

Since the 1970s, wine production has grown in the United States at an exponential rate, with 47 out of 50 states now boasting wineries. American interest in wine, both old and new world bottles, has given rise to prominent American wine critics, such as Robert Parker. His annual ratings carry such influence that they regularly affect prices, especially those of his preferred varietal, Bordeaux. Parker's rankings have also altered modern wine-making techniques in both the United States and France, with many wineries changing their process of viticulture in an attempt to "Parkerize" their wines and please the critic.

Today, both France and the United States are among the top five countries in world wine production -- France hovers in the top three, while the US fluctuates between fourth and fifth place. Indeed, wine remains a key element of the Franco-American trade relationship: the United States is the world's top importer of French wine and spirits, while American wine is one of the fasting growing imports to France.