Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence, leader of the Democratic-Republicans, and 3rd president of the United States, was also an avid wine connoisseur. Jefferson went on many different European tours that ended with him tasting, learning about, and understanding wine. On one journey he traveled across France, stocking his Paris cellar with all sorts of “Bordeaux, Burgundies, Muscats, and Champagnes” (Hailman xci). On another trip Jefferson traveled across the border between Germany and France going on “a tasting tour of the Rhine and Mosel” (Hailman 9). These tasting tours were done while Thomas Jefferson had duties to attend to in France, but it was obvious that wine was a definite motive, especially because he left with “363 bottles of wine” (Hailman 25). However, Jefferson returned also with something even greater: a reinvigorated passion for wine.
Before his grandiose tasting tours in Europe Jefferson already had a love of wine and was highly invested in making it. This love was seen in his heavy investment in Philip Mazzei’s Agricultural Company, and the land that he donated to Philip Mazzei to test and experiment with grapes in Virginia. However, after the instance with the British officer's horse devastating the vineyards “there [were] no further references to vines or vineyards until Thomas Jefferson had gone to Paris” (Hailman 1824j). The return to wine growing was slow as he was wary seeing the low wages and income that vineyard workers received, but “by 1796, the year he was elected Vice President, his vineyards were again a subject of interest” (Hailman 1824o). By the year 1802 Thomas Jefferson’s new and improved vineyard was back and running. He recorded in his garden book six rows of grapes successfully growing. Thomas Jefferson, while also having many other vine suppliers, still called on his old friend, Philip Mazzei, for help in reestablishing and expanding his project. Philip Mazzei sent Jefferson vine shoots in 1803, which according to Mazzei were better because they “will all successfully grown and soon” (Mazzei 1803).
War not only devastated Thomas Jefferson and Philip Mazzei’s joint experimental vineyards at Colle, but also pushed Thomas Jefferson to expand his vineyards in 1807. With the conflicts in Europe from the Napoleonic Wars escalating, Thomas Jefferson began giving much more attention to his vineyards as he was made to “wonder if his supplies of European wine might be cut off” (Hailman 1824q). By that time Thomas Jefferson had expanded his vineyard and created a second one. The first one was located in the northwest part of his property and contained many varieties of grapes. It provided more information about which grapes grew the best, but it was time-consuming as the grapes were of different types and had to be cultivated at different times in the year. As Jefferson got more wines shipped from Europe he eventually established another vineyard in the southeast area of his plantation. Later on, Thomas Jefferson even tried to experiment with the wild native grapes of Virginia “comparing them, incredibly, to Burgundies” (Hailman 1809).
Jefferson suffered setbacks that have been discovered and solved as the years have gone on and as other wine growers in Virginia have improved the techniques used. Many of the European varieties of grapes grew so much more poorly than the wild Virginia varieties because of various New World diseases. These diseases such as phylloxera were solved by grafting American grape roots to the European grapes. Not only that, but the land in Monticello was heavy and didn’t drain the water received by his complex irrigation system well. Overall, Thomas Jefferson was a leading visionary for the Virginia wine industry and as Hailman puts it “was ahead of his time”.