What do vineyards in Napa, Santa Barbara, Beng, China and Ziway, Ethiopia have in common?

Today, I pulled vineyard photographs from around the world for the world's largest calendar company. I'm awestruck that people and corporations plant vines in all corners of the world. Yet, as I looked at my selections, it struck me how different the vineyards and their stories are from each country. 

What is is about growing wine that is so attractive to so many around the world for thousands of years? 

California: This is the privately-owned 230-acre Star Lane Vineyard, a part of an almost 8000-acre Dierberg ranch, Happy Valley, Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara County, California. Jim Dierberg started out in banking in Hermann, MO and  expanded into wine.  What is it about growing wine that is so attractive?

California: Spring-time view of privately-owned John William's (former dairy farmer from upstate New York and owner and winemaker at Frog's Leap winery) white barns and water tower seen from mustard-flowering Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard  in the Napa Valley, California. So why go from dairy to wine?

Ethiopia: This is the Awash Wine Company vineyard about 3 hours from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They get two harvests per year, with dormancy controlled by irrigation. Founded in 1943, the company is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

China: Perched on a flat above the Lancang River (known as the Mekong further south) in the Yunnan province near the boarder with Tibet sits the village of Beng. The ShangriLa wine company has taught the farmers how to grow wine grapes and changed the economy of the entire region.