Since it’s July 4th today and I’m feeling very patriotic, I thought it only fitting to blog about the author of the Declaration of Independence and 3rd President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. As it turns out, not only was President Jefferson a founding father, but the country’s unofficial elder expert in all things wine.

Though he couldn’t ever really get vines to take root on his sprawling Monticello estate (and never succeeded in producing a vintage), that didn’t dilute this President’s love of his oft-proclaimed ”healthy” beverage. In fact, Jefferson the enthusiast was known to share advice about wines with Presidents Washington, Adams, Madison, Monroe and countless others.

So what did he recommend? Likely a range of fine European wines stretching from the foothills of Southern France to vineyards of Germany’s Rhine and Mosel regions. The President, who frequently found time to indulge his passion and gain firsthand knowledge during ministerial and other official visits, apparently knew his stuff.

According to www.Monticello.org, Jefferson’s cellar contained bottles from France, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Germany, and Italy, and he served wine after dinner daily in the belief that it was good for the health (a point echoed in the media more than 200 years later). Although often mistaken to be pro-Bordeaux (he wrote about it and traveled to the region), Jefferson may have been more inclined toward Burgundian wines. How a man (or woman) stocks his cellar provides a true accounting of his (or her) tastes, and according to some accounts, Jefferson’s racks included bottles of Volnay (red), Montrachet (white), and other Bourgogne favorites. Good albeit expensive taste.

Though Jefferson was a far less successful as a vitriculturist (due to bad vines, pests, lack of green thumb, etc.) than he was as a statesman, his instincts told him that America was blessed with the “soil, aspect, and climate of the best wine countries” and that “We could, in the United States, make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but doubtless as good” (source: Monticello.org). Turns out, he was right on the money for the most part. 

While other cultural developments (my daughter’s rap music for one) in his United States might set a time-traveling Jefferson’s head spinning, the President would probably be very pleased with the country’s blossoming vitriculture. Vineyards have taken root from upstate New York to Napa Valley to Newberg, Oregon, and many American winemakers compete on even terroir with the best wineries in the world. Perhaps TJ would be so impressed that he would ditch politics altogether and give the soil around Monticello a second try.

Enough speculation, it’s time for a glass of wine. Join me as I propose a toast to one of the country’s greatest patriots and visionaries. Here is to President Thomas Jefferson, true Renaissance Man, a Founding Father …and the United States’ original wine connoisseur. Happy 4th to you Mr. President and to all of our fellow wine lovers!

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