wine history gilded age
Before the onset of Prohibition, 90 percent of the wine consumed in the United States came from California. This is largely due to the efforts of southern Mediterranean immigrants who wanted inexpensive wines to drink daily. Moreover, the growth of the American wine industry led to the creation of a number of new wineries.
what happened in wine history?
In the early twentieth century, California wineries entered a new era called “vinti-business,” which means vertical integration of grape farming, wine production, and distribution. This evolution reflects historic survival lessons and the entrepreneurial instincts of California farmers. After being destroyed by the Great Depression, Prohibition, and phyloxera, California wineries began rebuilding. Moreover, they began applying nineteenth-century capitalist tenets to their business model.
In the late nineteenth century, a disease called phylloxera destroyed grapevines. It wiped out indigenous grapes and severely affected wine production. But a wave of immigrants later imported French, Italian, German, and Spanish grapes. Native American grapes also became widespread. During the sixteenth century, Mexico was the largest wine producer, affecting Spanish commercial production. In fact, the Spanish king even ordered Mexico to stop planting vineyards and production.
what happened in wine history gilded age
During the Middle Ages, wine was primarily drunk by nobility and merchant class housewives. Noble household servants were also served wine at every meal. In those days, wine was expensive and rarely consumed by the lower classes. However, it was necessary to drink wine for Catholic Mass, and the Benedictine monks became the largest producers in France. In Germany, the Cistercians and Carthusians became the next largest producers.
After Jacques’ death, Emmanuel Lassaigne took over the family estate. He changed the way the grapes were grown and vinified. He stopped using pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. He started vinifying the grapes from each individual parcel separately. He specialized in making single-expression wines.
Winemakers with the same philosophy were welcomed into the wine industry. Soon, they were the staple of many top wine lists. Some of them found an audience in the United States. Meanwhile, others were introduced to new Champagne producers. Eventually, new-wave wine was able to capture the attention of the American public.
The Gilded Age was also a time of great social change. In the United States, many new social movements were formed, including the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which sought to restore morality in the country. And the National American Woman Suffrage Association was led by Susan B. Anthony.