I’ve just started reading the book Thomas Jefferson on Wine. Upon first impression it’s an easy read, unlike the technical wine books I’m used to where I have to decipher and engrain each line within my mental database. No, this book is just my speed and, to my delight, it’s great to see that our forefathers had fabulous wine sense to go along with their common and ethical sense. All of our forefathers were wine connoisseurs but Jefferson was the leader of forefather wine pack. He traveled to vineyards and estates far and wide and reported back about his findings. Quite ahead of his time, he was, on what constituted a fine wine and on wine business jargon like import strategies. He sought out the best shippers to get his wine to him from Europe and beyond. You know back then wine was shipped to you in barrels, and you couldn’t just call the wine maker and say, “could you send me a case of Chateau Lafite”, no you had to write the vineyard or chateau a letter stating what you wanted and then hope that wine connoisseur pirates didn't highjack your shipment. I’m sure it happened many times and although times were rough back then, nothing got in the way or kept Jefferson from getting and talking about the virtues of fine wine. I’m looking forward to visiting his vineyard estate, Monticello, next summer, but for now I must go and finish reading the book and I will report back…….by the way, to put a check mark on my case about the health virtues of wine…Jefferson lived to be 85 years old………….
I peeked in the back of the book.
enjoy
Not only was he big on wine, Jefferson started the rice industry in the US. He literally smuggled pockets full of rice grains out of Italy, mailed them to a friend back home. America is now one of the biggest rice producers in the world. Thanks TJ, and Thanks Jacqueline. Great post.
ReplyDeleteKevin Lynch