History of Portuguese wine country unfavorable for viticulture, making the country a ready market for imported wines; its proximity to France, made French wines a natural source. At times the supply was threatened by political and military conflicts between the English and French crowns. New sources had to be found such as the wines of Portugal. Documents exist detailing Portuguese wine shipments from the Minho region to England occurring as early as the 12th century. These wines, including those from the wet northern region of modern-day Vinho Verde, were often light and astringent with noticeable acidity. Despite the new source, the variety of French
Wine Country (California) combined counties of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake. These counties contain the following American Viticultural Areas (AVAs): The six-county North Coast AVA overlaps with the Wine Country as defined here. In addition, the names of the counties themselves are legal for use as appellation names. The earliest prehistory of the Wine Country involves habitation by several Native American tribes from approximately 8000 BC. The principal tribes living in this region included the Pomo, Coast Miwok, Wappo and Patwin, whose early peoples practiced certain forms of agriculture, but probably not involving the cultivation of grapes. During the Mexican Colonial period and