Wine as Old as Time - The First Commercial Winery in America

 

        

Photo from Nation's Oldest Winery via Good Fruit Grower

    Wine has been around for thousands of years — dating back as early as 7000 BC in China. During the early era, wine was heavily used in some religious practices. Meanwhile, others expressly forbid the use of wine. Presently, wine is often drunk to celebrate the important milestones in our lives — such as weddings, job promotions, and celebrating the new year. In addition to the celebration, wine is also consumed casually. For example, a nice glass of red with dinner — unwinding after a long day. Or for the wine enthusiasts, such as myself, who enjoy learning about the history of wine. 

    On that note, wine has a very reputable history throughout the course of life, I could sit here and type all day about the history of grapes, soil, geographics, and culture. However, I would like to start small — right in the state of Kentucky, USA. Kentucky is known for horse racing, bourbon, moonshine, and coal. It comes as a bit of a surprise that a historical beverage such as wine received its official start in Kentucky versus California where we know to produce some of the world's finest wine. In Nicholasville, KY, overlooking the Kentucky River, the First Vineyard winery was purchased by the owner, Tom Beall, and his close friend and business partner, Bobbye Carpenter. They didn't realize it at the time, but this historical winery was one of the first in the United States. 

    Kentucky was granted statehood in 1792.  In 1796, John James Dufour, a Swiss immigrant, who came from a wine-growing region in Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, made his way to America. It wasn't too long before Dufour started his own vineyard in Kentucky. In 1826, Dufour had published, The American Vine-Dresser's Guide, which helped set standards and information that would help growing wine grapes in North America. In 1799, Dufour had begun to plant vines on the vineyard. The name "First Vineyard" was decided for Dufour's new vineyard. He also was able to start producing wine a few years later. President Thomas Jefferson, who initially encouraged Dufour to plant vineyards in North America, and President Madison both received wine from First Vineyard. 

    Next, fast forward to the year 1994 when Tom Beall came across the piece of land. He originally had intentions of buying it solely to spend time overlooking the river. Later, a wine aficionado and a good friend of Tom's got wind of his purchasing of the land. They called him right away after reading a book on the history of Indiana Wine. Tom had discovered how historical this piece of land was and could not turn down the opportunity to keep Dufour's vineyard alive. Beall and his business partner, Bobbye Carpenter, wanted to restore the vineyard with its original grapes as well. The grapes that Dufour had planted were the Madeira, which was a common name for many grapes back then. This exact varietal is still unknown, and the Cape Grape, which was discovered to be the Alexander grape, a cross of Vitis labrusca, (native to Eastern North America) and Vitis vinifera (common grapevine native to the Mediterranean region, and Central Europe).

   In 2015, First Vineyard was entered into the National Historic Register for being the birthplace of the wine industry in America. How marvelous it is to learn the historic role that wine has played in history —whether it be here in America or all over Europe. Wine is a widely consumed and mysterious beverage that leaves much room for new discovery.