Happy Fourth of July! It turns out that Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin are not only responsible for starting a great nation, but also for instilling a love of wine into the national character at its inception.
George Washington:Known to finish his evenings with three glasses of red wine as a night cap, Washington had the finest cellar of the Founding Fathers and, as a consummate pragmatist in both war and wine, went so far as to attempt to start a domestic wine industry in case his supply was cut off.
Thomas Jefferson: He imported more than 20,000 bottles from France in his lifetime, spent nearly 15% of his annual salary on wine, and earned such a reputation as a connoisseur that he served as unofficial advisor to the first Presidents of the nation, including Washington and Monroe. Jefferson, an agrarian who grew up in rural Virginia and valued reliance on the land, was keenly interested in the
cultivation of wine-producing grapes.
Benjamin Franklin: He maintained a Paris cellar stocked with more than 1,000 bottles.
