WineInk: American Wine on the 4th
2025 is a year when the 4th of July falls on a Friday, serendipitously the same day that this column appears in the Aspen Times. We have a local tradition where WineInk suggests that we all drink the wines of America on this most American of all holidays.
This could mean opening a zinfandel from the Sierra Foothills of California, or a riesling from the New York Island, a syrah from the Washington plains or a cabernet franc from the Virginia mountains. After all, to paraphrase Woody Guthrie, this wine was made for you and me.
When the Founding Fathers put their quills to the Declaration of Independence in the summer of 1776, the 56 representatives who signed the document announcing the independence of the colonies toasted their achievement with Madeira, the fortified wine made on the Portuguese Island of the same name as there were few domestic wines at the time.
There are expense accounts (retained in the Library of Congress) from George Washington, the first President and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, showing significant orders for large purchases of Madeira throughout his tenure as both a General and President. It seems that the summer of ’75 required extra “fortifications” for the war efforts and Washington ordered close to 2,000 bottles of Madeira that year.
And nearly a decade later, following the close of the Constitutional Convention, Washington threw a party in Philadelphia’s City Tavern on Sept. 15, 1787. There, the General treated 54 of his former troops to a gathering that, according to the bill, included “54 bottles of ‘Madera’ and 60 bottles of Claret” among other adult beverages. They were a celebratory lot, those patriots.
Washington had a dream that the United States would one day become a producer of wines of quality. If he could only see us now. Today the United States is, appropriately, the fourth largest producer of wine behind France, Italy and Spain.
Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, both signatories of the Declaration, also had a healthy respect — some at the time called it a weakness — for wine. Jefferson in particular is well known for having discovered the joys of French wines during his days spent in Paris as Foreign Minister. He imported many bottles of fine Bordeaux to his American home that he arranged to purchase directly from the houses of Château Haut-Brion and Lafite. He also had a thirst for Château d’Yquem, the sweet delicacy from Sauternes. It is said that during Jefferson’s presidency he maintained a cellar under the west wing of the White House dubbed “the Icehouse” which contained 20,000 bottles from his personal collection of wines. That’s about the same number of bottles that live under The Little Nell.
He is also known for having attempted to propagate a vineyard with imported vines at his property at Monticello, Virginia. In 1773 Jefferson gave 193 acres to Italian viticulturist Filippo Mazzei and the pair set about planting grapes. Though the experiment never succeeded in the production of wine, there are currently active vineyards on the Monticello property producing wines under the Jefferson Vineyards label. It is located outside of Charlottesville, about five miles up the road from another winery named for a President, the Trump Winery.
Ironically, July 4th also marks the date of Thomas Jefferson’s death in 1826, 50 years to the day after he signed the Declaration of Independence that he is credited with writing. He had lived to the age of 83, the result, perhaps, of his preferences for fine wine.
For his part, Franklin, who many considered to be a wine mentor to the younger Jefferson, also spent time in Paris on official business where he maintained a cellar full of fine Burgundy and Bordeaux. In a letter dated 1779 he wrote to a friend as an ode to biblical references: “Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.” Amen.
The history of wine in America is a field blend of legend, tall tales and frankly, more than a bit of hubris. It was not until the 1960s and 70s that the American wine industry began to produce wines that were perceived to be of substance by the rest of the world and come into prominence as a global powerhouse.
Perhaps the defining moment came during the American Bicentennial of 1976 when a pair of American wines were deemed by a panel of French wine officials to be the winners in a blind tasting of French and American wines that became known as the “Judgment of Paris.” How tickled Franklin and Jefferson would have been by the outcome.
Today, American wineries come in all shapes and sizes. As of 2023 there were over 11,000 wineries in the United States. However, the rate of winery openings has slowed considerably in the last few years following Covid and the evolving and uncertain wine market that we find ourselves in. There are wineries in all 50 states, though some still produce wine from fruits other than grapes. Think pineapple wine from, you guessed it, Hawaii, or honey and raspberry wines from Alaska.
American wine has a legacy, much like that of American democracy, that has seen fits and starts as it has evolved to become what it is today. Time to raise a glass of American wine to our country.
Happy Independence Day.
