WineAmerica is a grassroots organization that represents large and small wineries in approximately 48 states. It started in 1978 as an eastern regional wineries association, and ultimately transitioned to a national organization in the mid-1990s. They represent both their paying membership and more than 60 state winery associations around the country at both the state and federal level. "If you take into account both our membership and the affiliation that we have with state winery associations, we end up representing most of the nation's wineries on Capitol Hill," Cary Greene, WineAmerica's chief operating officer and general counsel, recently told WSD.