This is an abridged version of a story because they were many more events than these.
(The people) didn’t consume many of the beverages we drink regularly today. Not only were there few nonalcoholic juices (citrus fruits being unavailable and other fruits fermenting like grapes), but coffee and tea were expensive, milk spoiled quickly, and water frequently was brackish and disease-ridden. Ironically, health and safety constituted the primary advantage of alcohol.
American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine, Paul Lukacs, p 24
These were the typical conditions in the US for the early 1800s, thus what a young man from New Jersey encountered when he headed west in 1803 to start a new life in a frontier town known as Cincinnati, Ohio. Arriving full of hope and optimism, Nicholas Longworth became a lawyer and a real estate mogul – and given Cincinnati’s location in the westward movement, he became wealthy as the city grew.
Longworth was also a man of temperance, but saw wine as a beverage of moderation that would improve life for the commoners. Keep in mind that wine wasn’t in the picture because supply was limited to imported European wines and mainly drank by the elite – and yes, banishing wine was not part of the temperance movement at that time.
Thomas Jefferson, the US President at the time and early spokesperson for wine in American, not only loved European wines, he believed America could also make great wine. His enthusiasm drove him to try cultivating European varietals in Virginia, but he was unsuccessful Native American varietals grew in the wild, but made poor wines. As other were unsuccessful throughout the east, the curious began hybridizing American and European varietals.
Nicholas Longworth made his first wine in 1813, but it was a fortified wine that was over 20% alcohol, thus far from the 12% dry table wine he wanted to make. Therefore, in 1825 he purchased a little known hybrid from Maryland called Catawba.
Experimenting with separating skins from the juice, Longworth produced a sweet wine that Cincinnati’s growing German population enjoyed. He kept trying with different grapes and techniques, and in 1842 accidentally discovered a second fermentation producing a sparkling, which led to a new problem – exploding bottles.
Fortunately, Nicholas Longworth had deep pockets to fund his passion, so he kept trying. By the 1845, his wines were getting national attention, thus production was around 300,000 gallons (over 1.1 million liters) per year. By the end of the decade, grapes covered over 2,000 acres in the Cincinnati region. The wine even inspired this poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: The Ode to Catawba Wine.
In 1860, a disease (blight) hit the region’s grapes – and the grapes suddenly vanished. Longworth died in 1863 at age 80, but his son was unsuccessful at revitalizing Cincinnati’s wine industry.
Longworth’s dream lived on through others (including former employees) as growing grapes moved west to Missouri and eventually California – all building on Longworth’s knowledge. This is why Nicholas Longworth – the one who came to Cincinnati for a new beginning, earned his title: the Father of the American Wine Industry.
You are a fascinating resource, Frank!
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Elyse,
Just another example of the fun of learning and how much there is to learn.
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Exploding bottles? That takes ‘getting trashed’ to a whole new level!
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Renee,
LOL … a brilliant comment!
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A great story, and even more fascinating in the context of Carrie Nation and Prohibition not long after.
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Guapo!!!!!!
Good eye as you picked up on one of the nuggets in this post regarding temperance … which will lead into the next post on this topic (who knows when). Hope all is well and some sort of normalcy is within sight.
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Yes! I saw normalcy driving by the other day while I was walking. It waved as it passed me!
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At least it was kind enough to wave instead of thumbing its nose.
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Interesting, Frank. I know little about wine and even less about Cinci’s connection to it.
Sorry to be so out of the loop recently. But, Sara and I have arrived safely in Ecuador, and I’m trying to get back into the routine of blogging.
Hugs,
Kathy
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Kathy,
Hooray …. you successfully arrived in and are transitioning in Equador. I’ll have to drop by!
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Who would have thought. You are an amazing font of information.
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Val,
Yep – it surprised me too – thus the reason for the post. Then again, everything has a history, thus a story to tell.
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That was enlightening Frank. I almost asked you if Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was related to Nicholas Longworth but that might imply that I’ve been quaffing too much grape to think clearly.
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Lame,
LOL … Once I incorporated Longfellow into the post, I did mix them up!
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Thank you for this post, you are amazing, I enjoy to read about wine, I love wine and wine culture… Love, nia
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Nia,
It’s amazing to think that the wine history in your part of the world is much, much, much older that my country!
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Never heard of him, but my hats off to him. Exploding bottles–yikes! I’m a recent convert to wine. After a trip to Oregon and a short stay on a vineyard I quickly decided I like the stuff. Now I try to sample wines from all over the world. It’s a tough job, but hey I do my best. Thanks for all the info and I love his picture. Wouldn’t have associated that face with a wine nut. Goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover.
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TBM,
You are not alone as I imagine that outside of wine historians, Longworth is only known to Cincinnatians … and even we have limited knowledge of him. Meanwhile, welcome to the wine lovers, and enjoy those European wines at your disposal!
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Interesting …. post. I hope you have seen the movie how US wine got known in Europe – Bottle Shock form 2008 … brilliant movie. It was a British guy, that lived in France – that open the world for your wines.
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Viveka,
Yep .. that’s the event that truly brought distinction to California wines, and helped turn around the US wine industry. Actually I have a series in my head about US wines, with this one being the start … and Bottle Shock is part of my plan. 🙂
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Wow! I know nothing about wine, but now I can say I know this much more than nothing. Thanks Frank!
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Alex,
Thanks … as I know you know, everything has a history – but who would have guessed that the American wine production actually got started in Cincinnati.
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Are there anymore wineries in Cincinnati? I wasn’t aware that this had once been the case.
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Carrie,
Good question. Wineries returned in this area in the 1970s …. and there are more today …. including in nearby Indiana and Kentucky.
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I don’t drink wine so I wasn’t even aware. Thank you. 🙂
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I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lake Erie area would now be the older vineyards in the state.
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Very informative post. I am of course not a wine connoisseur as you are…my wine tasting abilities amount to..,”mmm…that’s good stuff, is it home-made blackberry?” LOL. I did know a bootlegger, once (for real) who made home-made strawberry wine – it was really goooood!!! He asked me did I want to try moonshine, once – eeewww! It smelled like paint thinner!
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Hood,
Knowing this post is out of the box for many, it was a fun one to put together. Interestingly, wine can be made out of anything that can ferment … including dandelions. Of course matching one’s preferred tastes is another story.
Meanwhile, your moonshine experience made me laugh!
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I really enjoyed this backstory on Catawba wine, and the pioneer vintner! It is so interesting to me to see how vineyards flourish, or don’t, in different regions, and of course the grapes are influenced, too. The science combined with the history provides a wealth of reason to try different varietals. This was a very interesting story, Frank.
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Debra,
Of my readers, I had a inkling that you would be one who enjoyed this post. Who would have ever thought that Cincinnati set the stage for California? Of course, California is a story in itself. The abridged story continues later.
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It’s always interesting to know how something came into being, Frank. Very interesting history of American wine making. 🙂
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Paradise,
Thanks … well, that was the beginning, and the collapse is yet to come … then the return.
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Raise your glass to Nicholas Longworth!!
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Zannyro,
To Nicholas Longworth …. cheers!
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Cheers!
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I knew wine making was a painstaking process…but wow.
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I had no idea about most of this! I knew that Jefferson wanted to grow grapes for wine here but I didn’t know about Cincinnati being so integral to the wine industry here, nor did I know about Mr. Longworth. Sad about the blight though. Thanks for the grape-y history lesson, Frank!
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Weebs,
To be honest, I didn’t know about the significance until recently, thus the reason for the post.
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Both wine and beer were used for centuries, if not millenia, to provide drinkable, store-able fluids. Beer, or variations on it like ales, have been traced back to Egyptian and Assyrian civilisations. And the birth of wine cellars comes from pre-refrigeration days, when cold caves kept the wine and beer in better condition for a longer time period!
And no, I am in NO way suggesting that we old farts know all about old stuff….
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Hey Hey John!
Correct … those beverages have been around a long time – however, in this country, wine has an odd history … so this is essential the first point where it ramped up in this country. Good to see you!
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Very interesting – again! Your topics are ALWAYS interesting and ALWAYS well written.
I watched a documentary about prohibition on TV. It was fascinating to me – that old footage, chucking alcohol down the gutters, and kids downstream collecting it for their dad! Enormously interesting.
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Words,
To me, the oddity here is that most Cincinnatians may not know. They do know that grapes were here, but probably not the significance in American wine history. I’ve been here almost 37 years and didn’t know the significance until several months ago. Meanwhile, this story will continue soon.
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