History
... wine's social
impact through time ...
Fossil vines, 60-million-years-old,
are the earliest scientific evidence of grapes. The earliest written
account of viniculture is in the Old Testament of the Bible which
tells us that Noah planted a vineyard and made wine. As cultivated
fermentable crops, honey and grain are older than grapes, although
neither mead nor beer has had anywhere near the social impact of wine
over recorded time. Wine and history have greatly influenced one another.
MIDDLE EASTERN ORIGINS
An ancient Persian fable credits a lady of the
court with the discovery of wine. This Princess, having lost favor
with the King, attempted to poison herself by eating some table grapes
that had spoiled in a jar. She became intoxicated and giddy and fell
asleep. When she awoke, she found the stresses that had made her life
intolerable had dispersed. Returning to the source of her relief,
her subsequent conduct changed so remarkably that she regained the
King's favor. He shared his daughter's discovery with his court and
...
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Certainly wine, as a natural phase
of grape spoilage, was "discovered" by accident and is not
an invention of man. It is established that grape cultivation and
wine drinking had started by about 4000 BC and possibly as early as
6000 BC. The first developments were around the Caspian Sea and in
Mesopotamia, near present-day Iran. Texts from tombs in ancient Egypt
prove that wine was in use there around 2700 to 2500 BC. Priests and
royalty were using wine, while beer was drunk by the workers. The
Egyptians developed the first arbors and pruning methods. Archeological
excavations have uncovered many sites with sunken jars, so the effects
of temperature on stored wine were probably known.
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| The
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology
and Anthropology has a web site covering the Origins
and Ancient History of
Wine with several very interesting and user-friendly
articles about the discovery and science of
wine's social origin and development. |
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GRECO-ROMAN CONTRIBUTIONS
Wine came to Europe with the spread of the Greek civilization
around 1600 BC. Homer's Odyssey and Iliad both contain
excellent and detailed descriptions of wine. Wine was an important
article of Greek commerce and Greek doctors, including Hippocrates,
were among the first to prescribe it. The Greeks also learned to add
herbs and spices to mask spoilage.
The foundation and strength of viniculture
in Western Europe are primarily due, however, to the influence of
the Romans. Starting about 1000 BC, the Romans made major contributions
in classifying grape varieties and colors, observing and charting
ripening characteristics, identifying diseases and recognizing soil-type
preferences. They became skilled at pruning and increasing yields
through irrigation and fertilization techniques.
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WORLD'S
OLDEST BOTTLE of WINE
Unearthed
during excavation for building a house in a vineyard near the
town of Speyer, Germany, it was inside one of two Roman stone
sarcophaguses that were dug up. The bottle dates from approximately
325 A.D. and was found in 1867.
The
greenish-yellow glass amphora has handles formed in the shape
of dolphins. One of several bottles discovered, it is the only
one with the contents still preserved.
The
ancient liquid has much silty sediment. About two-thirds of
the contents are a thicker, hazy mixture. This is most probably
olive oil, which the Romans commonly used to "float" atop wine
to preserve it from oxidation. Cork closures, although known
to exist at the time, were quite uncommon. Their oil method
of preservation was apparently effective enough to keep the
wine from evaporation up to modern day.
The
bottle is on permanent display, along with other wine antiquities,
at the Historisches
Museum der Pfalz (History Museum
of the Pfalz), which is worth a virtual visit or an actual one,
if traveling near the area of Speyer, Germany. |
The Romans also developed wooden cooperage,
a great advance for wine storage which had previously been done in
skins or jars. They may also have been the first to use glass bottles,
as glassblowing became more common during this era.
ECONOMICS, POLITICS,
AND RELIGION
By the first century AD, wine was being exported from
the Empire (Italy) to Spain, Germany, England and Gaul (France). It
wasn't long before these regions began developing their own vineyards
and the Roman Emperor forbid the import of French wines to eliminate
their competition with the local wines. Over the next few centuries,
France would become dominant on the world wine market. Monastic wineries
were responsible for establishing vineyards in Burgundy, Champagne
and the Rhine Valley. Sacramental usage preserved wine industry methods
and traditions through the dark ages.
By 1152, during the reign of Henry
II, Britain had become the principal customer of Bordeaux. The end
of the Hundred Years War in 1453 left the city of Calais as the only
French territory still under British control and trade between England
and France nearly cut off. So the English "discovered" and developed
a great love of Port.
Exploration, conquest and settlement
brought wine to Mexico, Argentina and South Africa in the 1500s and
1600s. Although there were many attempts during this period to plant
European wine vines along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America
and in the Mississippi River basin valleys, none were successful.
Each vineyard planted would die off within two or three seasons. No
one apparently sought to determine why, even though little difficulty
was encountered in Mexico or California vineyards. In the late 1800s,
one answer to this mystery would ultimately prove fatal for nearly
all the vineyards of Europe.
WINE MISSION FOR
CALIFORNIA
Hernando Cortez, as Governor of Mexico in 1525, ordered
the planting of grapes. The success was such that the King of Spain
forbid new plantings or vineyard replacements in Mexico after 1595,
fearing his colony would become self-sufficient in wine. This edict
was enforced for 150 years, effectively preventing a commercial wine
industry from forming.
As in Europe, however, vineyards survived
under the auspices of the church and the care of the missions. In
1769, Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serra planted the first
California vineyard at Mission San Diego. Father Serra continued to
establish eight more missions and vineyards until his death in 1784
and has been called the "Father of California Wine". The variety he
planted, presumably descended from the original Mexican plantings,
became known as the Mission
grape and dominated California wine
production until about 1880.
California's first documented imported
European wine vines were planted in Los Angeles in 1833 by Jean-Louis
Vignes. In the 1850s and '60s, the colorful Agoston Harazsthy, a Hungarian
soldier, merchant and promoter, made several trips to import cuttings
from 165 of the greatest European vineyards to California. Some of
this endeavor was at his personal expense and some through grants
from the state. Overall, he introduced about 300 different grape varieties,
although some were lost prior to testing, due to difficulties in preserving
and handling.
Considered the Founder of the California
Wine Industry, Harazsthy contributed his enthusiasm and optimism for
the future of wine, along with considerable personal effort and risk.
He founded Buena Vista winery and promoted vine planting over much
of Northern California. He dug extensive caves for cellaring, promoted
hillside planting, fostered the idea of non-irrigated vineyards and
suggested Redwood for casks when oak supplies ran low.
 |
J.
Chauvet vineyard and winery, circa 1900.
Joshua
Chauvet planted his vineyard in 1875 and was a contemporary
of Agoston Harazsthy, who employed him at one time. Chauvet
also started the first brickyard, the first lumber mill. the
first grain mill, and the first hotel in Sonoma County. Hotel
Chauvet in tiny Glen Ellen still exists today.
Photo courtesy
of Fleet
Irvine Photomurals,
a viewable collection of wine and other theme photos that
may also be purchased. |
BLINDED WINE WITH
SCIENCE
For centuries wine was produced and enjoyed with little thought for and no true
understanding of its underlying science, wine evolved through "spontaneous generation," as far as anyone knew. French chemist Louis
Pasteur, among many discoveries relating to his germ theory of diseases,
first proposed and proved, in 1857, that wine is made by microscopic
organisms, yeasts. This led to the discovery and development of different yeast types and
properties and ultimately to better hygiene, less spoilage, and greater
efficiency in wine production.
In 1860, Dr. Jules Guyot published
the first of three treatises describing regional traditional vinicultural
and viticultural practices as well as his own observations and arguments
on the economy of grape growing. Before these documents, viniculture
was a practice that had been apprenticed from generation to generation
for over 5000 years, without written records or formal instruction.
YANKEE VINE-KILLER BUG
In 1863, species of native American
grapes were taken to Botanical Gardens in England. These cuttings
carried a species of root louse called phylloxera vastatrix
which attacks and feeds on the vine roots and leaves. Phylloxera is
indigenous to the Mississippi River Valley and was unknown outside
North America at the time. Powdery mildew, a fungal disease, also
indigenous to North America, had previously migrated to Europe and
caused problems in some areas. No one, however, had any idea of the
wide-reaching destructive potential of Phylloxera.
Native American varieties developed
resistance to phylloxera by evolving a thick and tough root bark,
so that they were relatively immune to damage. The vinifera vines
had no such evolutionary protection and phylloxera ate away at their
roots, causing them to rot and the plant to die and driving the pests
to seek other nearby live hosts, spreading inexorably through entire
vineyards and on to others.
By 1865, phylloxera had spread to vines
in Provence. Over the next 20 years, it inhabited and decimated nearly
all the vineyards of Europe. Many methods were attempted to eradicate
phylloxera: flooding, where possible, and injecting the soil with
carbon bisulfide, had some success in checking the louse, but were
costly and the pests came back as soon as the treatments stopped.
Finally Thomas Munson, a horticulturist
from Dennison, Texas, realized that native American vines were resistant
and suggested grafting the vinifera vines onto riparia
hybrid rootsocks. So, there began a long, laborious process of grafting
every wine vine in Europe over to American rootstocks. It was only
in this manner that the European wine industry could be retrieved
from extinction. Downy mildew, another fungal disease in American
grapevines, unfortunately probably migrated to Europe on some of the
rootstocks imported for grafting. One tragic consequence of the Phylloxera
devastation is that many of the native species indigenous to Europe,
since they were of negligible commercial value, were not perpetuated
by grafting and became extinct.
There was some debate generated by
this replanting that the quality declined in "post-phylloxera" wines.
Whether this was indeed the case and whether this was due to the rootstocks
themselves or to the relatively sudden and nearly universal youth
of the vines, or to changes in vinification techniques, or to some
other concurrent factor or variable, is unknown. Undoubtedly, it will
remain a matter of theory and opinion and provide animated conversation
at wine tastings, but ultimately never be proven.
The blight resulted in shortages of
wine for many years, so that fraud and adulteration became problems,
eventually leading French wine growers to the form the system of Appellation
Controlée,
which has become the model for all wine producing countries to both
protect wine trade reputations and authenticate products for consumers.
| Northern
California wine harvest, c. 1900.
Around
the turn of the century, the quality of American wines had
reached excellence by international standards, as testified
to by the three dozen medals won by them at the 1900 Paris
Exposition.
Photo
courtesy of Fleet
Irvine Photomurals,
a viewable collection of wine and other theme photos that
may also be purchased. |
|
During the period when the Europeans
were contending with phylloxera, the American wine industry was ironically
flourishing. By 1900, America had a fully developed and proud commercial
wine producing business. Leading brands from California, New York,
Ohio, Missouri and New Jersey were appearing on many of the best restaurant
wine lists alongside French, German and Italian listings. Barrels
of California wine were being regularly exported to Australia, Canada,
Central America, England, Germany, Mexico and the Orient.
VINE-KILLER POLITICS
The destruction of the American wine industry would
come not from an entomological pest, but from a political one. While
it took a hundred years instead of 20 to complete its course, the
results were even more devastating. It didn't spread from vineyard
to vineyard, but from town to county to state to the entire nation.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism and their
related problems were much more widespread and affected a radically
larger share of America's population in the early and mid-1800s than
they do at present day. Excessive use, rather than moderate use, was
the norm in an era of fewer entertainments and diversions.
The first Prohibition law went on the
books in Indiana in 1816, forbidding the sale of any alcohol on Sunday
(still enforced to this day). By the 1840s, towns and counties in
Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York and Ohio
had gone legally "dry". In 1851, Maine enacted the first statewide
law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of liquor and, by 1855, thirteen
of the thirty-one United States had followed suit.
The Industrial Revolution led from
local to large-scale brewing and mass marketing, with intense competition.
A proliferation of saloons drove owners to seek side profits by pursuing
illegal and unsavory vices such as gambling and prostitution. As another
beverage containing alcohol, wine began to suffer the successful excesses
of beer.
In 1880, Kansas became the first entirely
"dry" state, followed by Iowa, Georgia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, North
Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia. Although the laws
allowed winemaking to continue for sale elsewhere, few wineries in
these states could compete without selling their wines locally. Most
closed their doors and abandoned their vineyards.
The Drys went so far as to have any
mention of wine expunged from school and college texts, including
Greek and Roman classic literature. Medicinal wines were dropped from
the United States Pharmacopoeia. They even tried to prove that praises
for wine in the Bible were actually referring to unfermented grape
juice. Thirty-three states had gone dry at the outbreak of World War
I. While the Doughboys were fighting in Europe, Wartime Prohibition
was enacted in 1919.
Over President Wilson's veto, Congress
passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, known as
the Volstead National Prohibition Act, named after Minnesota Republican
Andrew Volstead, teetotaller and primary proponent. After midnight
on January 16, 1920, the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of
intoxicating liquors," as well as the exporting or importing of same
was forbidden and became a Federal crime.
Through a provision that made penalites not applicable1 to "a person manufacturing noninoxicating cider and fruit juice exclusively for use in his home," thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens became
home winemaking hobbyists and quasi-bootleggers. This poorly-constructed clause eliminated consequence without strictly legalizing either home brewing or winemaking, yet the obvious difficulty of intepreting and applying its intent led to new pasttimes for many households.
Explosive demand for fresh grapes and a shortage of refrigerated
railroad cars in which to ship them caused prices to skyrocket. Growers began replanting their vineyards
from fine wine varieties over to table or juice grape varieties that
shipped better. Planted acreage nearly doubled from 1919 to 1926.
Vineyard land prices climbed from $200 an acre in 1918 to $2,500 an
acre in 1923. Prosperity for the growers lasted barely five years.
In 1925, the railroads finally had enough cars, too much fruit was
shipped and it rotted on the Eastern docks. In 1926, vineyard land
fell back to $250 per acre. The massive plantings produced a constant
surplus of California grapes that persisted until 1971.
By the time of National Repeal, effective
December 5, 1933, the industry was in ruins. Although some wineries
managed to survive by obtaining permits to make wines used for medicinal,
sacramental and non-beverage additive purposes, production dropped
94% from 1919 to 1925.
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Wine
Commonsewers,
New York City , 1925
CAUTION:
this
photo may be unsuitable for wine enthusiasts.
Could
this be the pipeline to the mayor's
office?
Maybe
they're conducting a Veterinary Clinic to prevent arteriosclerosis
in rodents ...
Photo courtesy
of Fleet
Irvine Photomurals,
a viewable collection of wine and other theme photos that
may also be purchased.
|
REPEAL WITHOUT RECOVERY
Even after Repeal, several states stayed dry: Kansas
until 1948, Oklahoma until 1957, and Mississippi until 1966. Seventeen
states chose to obliterate free-market capitalism by establishing
monopoly liquor stores with limited selections and plain-as-dirt merchandising
that discourages respectable housewives from shopping.
There remain local prohibitions that
are arbitrary, inconsistent and niggling, with such manifest foolishness
as streets lined door-to-door on one side with taverns and "package
stores" and nary a one on the opposite side where the dry boundary
runs down the middle of the roadway. Today 10 percent of the nation's
area and 6 percent of the population remain dry.
Anticipating Repeal, speculators and
quick-buck artists soon flooded the legal market with quickly and
poorly made wine. Dilettantes published books and articles warning
Americans about rigid rules that must be followed to serve the proper
wine with the proper food from the proper glass at the proper temperature.
Faced with bad-tasting products with which to risk committing social
blunders and while remaining uncertain about the social acceptance
of any alcohol, most Americans stayed away. Hard drinkers stuck to
hard liquor. For decades, moderate wine drinking in a social context survived almost exclusively in households that made their own.
The only group of wines that sold well following Repeal
were the fortified dessert wines. Taxed at the lower rate of wine
as opposed to distilled spirits, but with 20 percent alcohol, this
group made the cheapest intoxicant available for derelicts and winos.
Before 1920, there were more than 2,500 commercial wineries in the
United States. Less than 100 survived as winemaking operations to
1933. By 1960, that number had grown to only 271. California had 713
bonded wineries before Prohibition; it took more than half a century,
until 1986, before that many were again operating.
Before 1920, table wines accounted
for 3 of every 4 gallons shipped. After 1933, fortified wines were
3 of every 4 gallons shipped. It wasn't until 1968 that table wines
sales finally overtook fortified wines, regaining the status of most
popular wine category.
Prohibition left a legacy of distorting
the role of alcohol in American life, ruining a fledgling world-class
wine industry, weakening the U.S. Constitution, and boosting the success
and profitability of Organized Crime (the price of whiskey rose over
500% during the 1920s). The maze of confusing and conflicting laws
that currently vary widely between states impedes commerce, sustains
distribution monopolies, casts aspersions of greed on tax coffers,
and mocks the American sense of fair competition.
More police officers were killed during
the decade of the 1920s than in any decade in history. The "Grand
Experiment" implanted moral ambiguity and disrespect for authority
in an entire generation of Americans, while it deprived them of potential
social and health benefits, and brought the character and term "wino"
into the streets and the lexicon.
The one positive remainder is the lingering
Congressional hesitance to pass Constitutional Amendments, especially
regarding restrictions on individual liberty and personal moral choice.
We can only hope for the future that our representatives don't commit
such folly when powerful special interests clash with the shared individual
freedoms that make up the public interest.
The forces of prohibition are not dead
yet. They are more insidious, combining moralist and monopolist factions,
pursuing an agenda of obstructionist legislation, that includes preventing
or encumbering direct sales of wine to consumers (see Free
the Grapes and Ship
My Wine), preventing health information from being printed on
wine labels and spreading disinformation about potential benefits
and studies related to wine and health.
WORK IN PROGRESS
In spite of the political workings,
table wine has grown in popularity in America. U.S.
per-capita consumption of wine still lags far behind most countries
of the Western Hemisphere. Although America wine-consuming growth
is on pace to become the number one wine consuming nation within this
decade, until now more than 85% of the volume of wine America is drunk by less
than 8% of the total population.
Research in the past thirty years
has led to developments in both agriculture and technology that
have greatly improved overall wine quality. The quality and stature
of California and American wine has never been better and worldwide
demand continues to grow. The attractions of the "gentleman
farming"
lifestyle and the increasing demand have driven the industry to
swell to a total of 4,383 bonded US wineries in 2006.
In America's Bicentennial Year of
1976, the world of wine was shocked when two Napa Valley wines
(Stag's Leap 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon and Chateau Montelena 1975
Chardonnay) bested the top French wine counterparts in Paris, at
a blind tasting judged entirely by Frenchmen, all experts in wine!
In the first years of the New Millennium, it is now only surprising
when French wines win at similar events.
Jim
LaMar
NOTES
1. Volstead Act, Section 29, Title II RETURN
RELATED LINKS
The History
of Wine breaks this information into
separate articles on Science, Geography, Popularity, Impact, and a
Timeline.
The Sonoma County Grape Growers' Association
has an article detailing the players and events which impacted the
development of California wine and Sonoma
County Wine History.
Professor K. Austin Kerr
of Ohio State University has written and compiled extensive articles
regarding Temperance
and Prohibition; highly
recommended reading for those who would investigate the complex social
and economic factors leading to Prohibition and Repeal.
The most famous and popular brand of
American wine prior to Prohibition was "Virginia Dare." For an fascinating
account of the origin of this brand and the founder's struggle to
survive, visit North
Carolina Winery History.
Maryland Winery Association
site has a year by year chart of the History
of Maryland Wine.
The History
Channel web site has an excellent and thorough article by Norman
H. Clark on Prohibition and Temperance (enter "prohibition" in the
Site Search on their home page).
The Wine Society of Texas has an online
biography of Thomas
Volney Munson.
The Maritime History Project has a biographic
article online about Count
Agoston Haraszthy.
