The First American Vineyard: John James Dufour’s Legacy
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
August 30, 1798
My dearest garden companions and vine-loving confidantes, what a splendid historical tidbit I have for you today!
On this day in 1798, the first American vineyard was planted 25 miles from Lexington, Kentucky, by a most determined Swiss gentleman named John James Dufour.
This adventurous soul established what would become the first successful commercial vineyard and winery in our young America. With a flourish of European sensibility, he christened it rather appropriately "The First Vineyard."
How delightfully straightforward, wouldn't you agree?
Picture this, my green-thumbed darlings: young Dufour, nestled in his Swiss homeland, pouring over newspaper accounts of the American Revolution. What captured his imagination most profoundly wasn't the gunfire or politics, but rather something utterly practical the French fighters had lamented. These soldiers, fighting alongside our colonial brothers, were simply devastated by the absence of wine in America!
This observation planted a seed in Dufour's mind that would eventually flourish into a magnificent horticultural endeavor. Wine ran through his veins, you see — both his grandfather and father were vine dressers in Switzerland, tending to the ancient art with practiced hands just as we tend our beloved perennials.
In 1796, our intrepid hero arrived on American shores, immediately making pilgrimages to the gardens that mattered. He visited Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and other distinguished estates with a critical eye.
Oh, but Dufour was not impressed with what he found!
These Americans were working with wild grapes which our discerning Swiss friend considered utterly inferior.
One can almost hear his disapproving tut-tuts across the centuries!
After establishing "The First Vineyard" with promising success, Dufour penned a letter to his family in Switzerland, extending an invitation that would change the landscape of American viticulture forever. Seventeen members of his family—imagine that, my fellow soil sisters!—packed their belongings and sailed across the vast Atlantic to join his vinous mission.
With familial reinforcements secured, Dufour set his sights westward. He petitioned Congress for land in Indiana, having discovered a steep valley reminiscent of his beloved Swiss homeland. Congress, in a rare moment of botanical wisdom, granted special approval for our determined vine-dresser.
By 1806, the first wine flowed from the family's new venture, aptly named "The Second Vineyard." The surrounding area blossomed into what became known as New Switzerland—a little slice of European wine heritage transplanted into our American soil.
And there you have it, my dear cultivation companions—the roots of American winemaking, planted with passion and tended with the same devotion we give to our most treasured garden plots.
Next time you raise a glass of domestic wine, remember John James Dufour and his vision that transformed our country's relationship with the noble grape!
