Wanting to read more I found this other article with a more nuanced take and some additional information: https://grapecollective.com/articles/prohibitions-gra

Wanting to read more I found this other article with a more nuanced take and some additional information: https://grapecollective.com/articles/prohibitions-grape-bricks-how-to-not-make-wine https://grapecollective.com/articles/prohibitions-grape-bric... > The grape of choice for home winemakers quickly became Alicante Bouschet. Thick, tough skins helped the grape survive the cross–country journey, and it grew in large quantities > By the end of Prohibition in 1933, other grape varietals and fruits had been ripped up and 40,000 acres of Alicante had been planted. > “Grape bricks had a disastrous effect on the early American wine industry,” Suttner wrote in an email. Grape bricks’ place in Prohibition history is largely glossed over, but Suttner was able to learn about them through period newspaper articles and Eric Burn’s book The Spirits of America. “By encouraging the production of cheap, fast–growing grapes like Alicante Bouschet at the expense of other, slower varieties, American wineries limited themselves severely.”