Vitis vinifera grape varieties were first cultivated in Caucasia in perhaps 6000 B.C. Cultivation progressed into Egypt and Phoenicia in about 3000 B.C. By 2000 B.C., viticulture reached Greece, and by 1000 B.C. it reached Italy, Sicily and North Africa. Residents of Spain, Portugal and France began viticulture in 500 B.C. and finally the practice spread into eastern and Northern Europe and even the British Isles.

William Thompson, an English settler, first planted a popular Eastern Mediterranean grape known as the Oval Kishmish near Yuba City north of Sacramento in the 1860s. This popular green variety is now known as the Thompson Seedless.

One of many settlers who came to California in the 1800s, William Wolfskill, a former trapper from Kentucky, planted the first table grape vineyard in 1839. The vineyard was located in a Mexican colonial pueblo now known as Los Angeles. A true agricultural entrepreneur, Wolfskill was the first farmer to ship fresh grapes to northern California towns, and is credited with founding the state's citrus industry as well.

R.B. Blowers pioneered the transport of fresh table grapes to eastern markets in 1869. He shipped separate clusters wrapped in paper bags in 22-pound boxes. The first load was shipped by ordinary freight to Chicago.

A Hungarian expatriate, Colonel Agoston Haraszthy personally brought 100,000 cuttings of Vitis vinifera varieties from Europe to California in the mid-1800s. He is often called the "Father of California Viticulture."

In 1970, per capita consumption of grapes in the United States was 2.5 pounds. Today the total hovers around 8 pounds.