Good morning Antoinette,
This week commemorates 3 events instrumental in the creation of the USA and all 3 were because of wine! First, In 1607 when every second son who wasn't getting the farm set sail for the new world, he had one thought...land to grow grapes, some good pipe tobacco and maybe meet a nice native girl...Jamestown! Everyone knows the English Climate is bollocks for grapes and tobacco, and girls have the unfortunate British trademark dental issues...but one look at Pocahontas and the Virginia countryside...they knew they found home! It was our puritanical brethren up north who rewrote history to make it seem like we came for political, economic and religious freedom...horse hooey...it was the wine. The English were tired of fighting wars with the French for their Bordeaux. So Jamestown marked the beginning of what has become the largest wine drinking country in the world. Virginians swapped wine for tobacco and pemmican, engaged in week long music festivals resulting in more than one "bow and arrow" wedding so to speak (see John Rolfe and Pocahontas) and consequently became the future state of wine making presidents. Nearly 200 years later this week, after low balling Napoleon out of the Louisiana purchase, Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark (guided by Sacagawea*) west to find the best areas for merlot, cabernet and pinot noir...the rest is history! But what good is a Columbia Valley Merlot, California Cab, or Oregon Pinot if you can't get it to Virginia? So none other than Abe Lincoln (noted Canoe Ridge Expedition merlot man) commissioned the Transcontinental railroad completed this week in 1867. It took awhile and there were a few conflicts along the way**, but Capt. John Smith's dream of a country of wine growers and drinkers has come to fruition...don't let the dreams of our founding fathers go uncelebrated. Fire up the pipe, tear off a piece of jerky, and uncork your favorite vino!
*wiki leaks discovered it is actually Sacagawea's soothing voice used on all GPS
**According to Politifact, not a SINGLE conflict occurred on the Frontier when wine was offered beforehand...Custer came empty handed to the PowWow!
Cheers!
May 11, 2016
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