The Makers of American Wine

Thomas Pinney tells the history of American wine through the lives of thirteen people “who made a difference in that history, or who represent a significant change in the direction of things, or both” (p. xiii). The author of a highly regarded two-volume history of wine in America, Pinney is a knowledgeable guide to the social, economic, technological, and even religious factors that have affected Americans’ interest in consuming wine. He is thus not writing a linear history solely structured around the cumulative accomplishments of industry heroes. He instead explains how these thirteen lives illustrate the broader cultural and scientific forces that shaped America's emergence as a leading producer of commercial wines. Three principal impediments hindered the emergence of a vital commercial wine industry in the United States. The first, and most enduring, was the effect that climate and disease have on the wine-producing grape species Vitis vinifera in the United States (especially the eastern half of the nation). The second was the cultural demand first for temperance and eventually for the total prohibition of alcohol consumption. Third has been a popular penchant for drinking distilled liquors that deliver higher levels of intoxication. All thirteen of these influential “makers of American wine” found ways to overcome or circumvent these vexing obstacles

Art · Consumption (sociology · Economic history · Social science · Sociology · Wine · Fermentation and Sensory Analysis · History · Horticultural and Viticultural Research · Wine Industry and Tourism

• Donne in the Vineyards

  Open Access•Pietro Pinna•Gender & History•2022

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