The history of Indiana wine goes back 200 years, longer then many other places in America. As stated last time, wine in the Midwest started just south of the Ohio river in Kentucky. John James Dufour, the creative spark behind the Firstvineyard in Kentucky arranged for the purchase of land for other Swiss wine makers immigrating to escape the Napoleonic wars. In Southern Indiana, he found a location with just the right conditions and the right price for his colony. In 1802, the Swiss immigrants founded the town of Vevay and proceeded to clear the land, build houses, and plant crops and vines.
Using the same Cape grape as at Firstvineyard, the Vevay winemakers had a moderate level of success until the Panic of 1819 changed the Agriculture landscape of the Midwest. Cheap liquor flooded the market and drove Wine prices down. Many of the Swiss colonists planted fewer grapes and more cash crops. As the original colonists grew older and the work fell to the next generation who was born in America, interest in wine making waned further. The newer generation, having not grown up around the wine culture of Europe, instead choose to pursue the American dream of prosperity by planting cash crops. No one's quite certain when, but by the 1850s, wine making in Vevay and the surrounding Switzerland County was a ghost of its former glory. Shortly after, the Cape grape died out and as of today, no known vines of this grape exist.
Today, the city of Vevay celebrates its wine heritage with the Swiss Wine Festival each year on the last weekend in August. The festival includes grape stomping, various booths, a parade, River boat rides, and capes off with a fireworks show. Here, the early history of Indiana wines is celebrated and remembered for a weekend.
After over 150 years, wine making returned to Vevay, Indiana. In 1995, the Ridge Winery produced its first vintage. The Ridge Winery makes a number of Country Wines and as typical in Indiana, a number of Fruit Wines.
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