United States General/History Flashcards
What position is the US in among the world’s production? Acreage?
What position is US among the world in consumption of wine?
- -Fourth largest producer of wine.
- -Fifth in acreage of land under vine. (In Oxford, USA is 6th behind Spain, France, Italy, China, and Turkey)
–US surpassed France in early 2011 to become the world’s largest wine consumer.
Name three species of grapevines found by the first colonists of North America.
—Vitis labrusca (the Concord grape)
—Vitis rotundifolia (the Scuppernong grape)
—Vitis aestivalis (the Norton grape)
What was the earliest record of vinifera vine plantings on the East Coast?
1619 Virginia law required every male colonist at Jamestown, the first successful English settlement on North American soil, to plant and tend at least ten vines—the earliest record of vinifera vine plantings on the East Coast.
What was the first grape to make its way to the west coast? When?
First non-native vines were the Mission grape (aka Listan Prieto, Palominio Fino), introduced to Mexico in the early 1500’s, brought to the New World via the Canary Islands. It made its way northward to Rio Grande settlements in present-day Texas and New Mexico as early as 1629, brought by Franciscan monks.
Initially planted near the San Diego mission at some point after its 1769 founding. From there, the Spanish spread up the coast, establishing Catholic missions as far north as Sonoma. These missions grew grapes for sacramental purposes, and the vines eventually came to be known as “Mission” due to this affiliation.
What was California’s first wine? When was it grown? By whom?
1783, Franciscans at the San Juan Capistrano Mission produced California’s first wine from the Mission grape.
Who was the first American settler to arrive in Napa and plant its first vineyard? When?
George Yount in 1838-1839.
Who is dubbed the “father of California wine” and when did he arrive?
“Count” Agoston Haraszthy “AG-ga-ston HAR-ra-see” arrived in Sonoma in 1849. Dubbed the “father of California wine,” the colorful Haraszthy introduced more than 300 varieties to the state, collected as vine cuttings during his European travels.
Who founded Buena Vista? When?
Agoston Haraszty arrived in 1849. Founded Buena Vista Winery in 1857
Who founeded the first commercial winery in Napa?
When was if founded?
Charles Krug (worked for Agoston Haraszthy at Buena Vista.)
-In 1861 moved to St. Helena in Napa and founded his eponymous winery–oldest in the valley
Who is Jacob Schram?
-Built Schramsberg in 1862
What is Napa’s oldest continuously operation winery? When was it established?
Beringer, established in 1876
Who is Gustav Niebaum?
Founder of Inglenook Winery in 1879.
When was phylloxera discovered in California?
Early 1870’s in Napa and Sonoma. First Sonoma in 1873. It wrecked havoc on vineyards throughout the 1880’s and 1890’s.
Who is Charles Valentine Riley?
Missouri entomologist, earned his place in the history of wine for his part in saving it—he was the first to understand the innate resistance of American grapes species to phylloxera. The French, thankful for his breakthrough, erected a statue in Montpellier in his honor.
When was the first commercial winemaking started on the east coast? Where?
1840’s, when Robert Prince produced wine from native grapes on Long Island.
When did hybrids begin being planted in the Finger Lakes?
1850 onward
Name three grapes that dominated vineyards of the east coast in the 19th century.
Concord (native)
Catawba (hybrid)
Delaware (hybrid)
What is the first bonded winery in United States? When was it established? What is a bonded winery?
Pleasant Valley Wine Company. Est. 1860 in the Finger Lakes and still operating today.
A bonded winery is a commercial enterprise that produces and stores wine under a bond that guarantees payment of the federal excise tax
What grape is, to this day, the pride of Missouri?
The Norton grape.
A hybrid which has both Vitis aestivalis and Vitis vinifera
Norton is undoubtedly underrated because of entrenched bias against non-vinifera varieties. In Arkansas and missouri, it was the mainstay of an extremely important wine industry. Leon D. ‘the best of all native American red-wine grapes’ and praises it for its wines’ lack of foxy character.
When was the nationwide ban on the manufacture and sale of “intoxicating liquors”
“Noble Experiment” Prohibition
January 16, 1919 with the Amendment taking effect on January 16, 1920. It last for 13 years and was repealed in 1933 by the ratification of the 21st Amendment, the only instance in US history that a constitutional amendment was repealed in its entirety.
Who was the “House of Altar wine”?
Frenchman George de Latour’s Beaulieu “BO-lee-oh” Vineyards. Winery thrived during Prohibition due to sacramental wines. Experienced backlash for the poor quality of its post-Prohibition wines. search of a winemaker with proper scientific training. He returned from trip to France to California not with Russian exile André Tchelistcheff; elevated the quality standards: advocated for cleanliness and control and first to explore the notion of terroir in Napa, suggesting that Pinot Noir and white grapes would fare better in the cooler south end of the valley, and red grapes up north.
