(WINSTON-SALEM) -- A study released Wednesday indicates the state's wine and grape industry generated an impact of $1.28 billion on the state's economy in 2009. This represents an increase of almost 60 percent since 2005.

"It is cooperation, not competition that has fueled the growth of the North Carolina wine industry," said Ian Taplin, author of the 2011 book, "The Modern American Wine Industry: Market Formation and Growth in North Carolina." Taplin is also a professor of sociology at Wake Forest University.

Taplin has tracked the state's wine industry from its beginnings in Duplin County 400 years ago to its current form with 106 wineries now operating in the state.