The United States has confidently come of age as one of the world's top wine-producing nations. Its reputation may be founded on the global fame of Napa and Sonoma, but the U.S. is home to countless lesser-known wine regions producing world-class wines (obvious examples include Oregon's Willamette Valley and the New York Finger Lakes). Wine has been made in The States for around 400 years, but it is only in the last 40 that American wine really began to earn respect on a global scale. The U.S. is now the world's fourth-biggest wine-producing nation (behind France, Italy and Spain) and produces roughly 18.5 million hectoliters each year.