I originally planned to get a degree in History in College because the subject has always fascinated me. I was lucky to be in an advanced Social Studies class during most of my Elementary and High School classes and to have great teachers in those classes who made History come alive. In 5th or 6th grade, our teacher split the class in half and had each group create an ancient civilization, setting out their religion, their social structure, and their values. We then created artifacts to represent this civilization and then buried them for the other team to dig up, reassemble, and try to decipher the 'civilization' from the artifacts.
While I later choose to study Computer Science, I still have an affinity for History in various forms. That's why I picked up Indiana Wine: A History, by James and John Butler. The father and son combo run Butler Winery in Bloomington, Indiana, and are thus well qualified to tell the story of wine cultivation in Indiana.
And its a far more fascinating story than I expected. The authors narrate the founding of Firstvineyard across the Ohio river in Kentucky and its influence in bringing Swiss vintners to what is now the town of Vevay in Switzerland County. Then, as the an economic depression decreases the demand for wine and the children of the original settlers take over, the vines are slowly abandoned. Others along the Ohio river take up Wine making, including German immigrants at Harmony, Indiana and up around Cincinnati. Indiana's early dominance in wines is passed by first Ohio, then New York, and finally California. While Indiana wineries make small recoveries throughout the 19th century, it received a mortal wound on January 19th, 1919, when the 18th Amendment was passed banning the sale of alcohol. Some wineries continued producing grapes, for sale as Table grapes or to sell to home wine makers (which was still legal), but all eventually disappeared.
Even though the 21st Amendment, passed in December 1933, made the sale of Alcohol legal again, there were no wineries in Indiana for nearly another 40 years. The State Law required all alcohol to be sold via distributors, who would sell to retailers, who could then sell to end consumers. Such a system erected a large barrier of entry that made it difficult for a winery to get off the ground. A winery would have to purchase grapes from other wineries at a high price or make the costly investment to grow grapes locally, and then be forced to sell their product to distributors and retailers, each making their own markup. Such a system is beneficial only to those wineries producing in large volumes or with a high quality that is in demand, each of which is difficult to obtain for a starting business.
In the 1970s, the laws were changed to allow wineries to sell directly to the public from their winery, and later from a second tasting room. With this restriction removed, the wine industry in Indiana has gained steam. When the book was published in 2001, there were 25 wineries in Indiana. In 2012, there are 60 wineries in Indiana.
All told, this book, at around 200 pages reads rather quickly for a History book. Much of the story was unknown to me and I found myself turning the page often to find out how the story unfolded next. If you're a history buff and enjoy wine (and why wouldn't you be if you're reading this blog), this would be a good book to add to your reading list.
No comments:
Post a Comment