What better way to celebrate than by raising a glass to Thomas Jefferson, our most wine-loving Founding Father, and hailing his journey from casual wine drinker to passionate advocate of fine wine.
From July 1784 to November 1789, Thomas Jefferson served as minister plenipotentiary to France to promote American interests not only there but across Europe. But his years abroad did more than advance diplomacy: They refined his sensibilities and deepened his appreciation for art, music, food, and wine. In France, he fell in love with the lighter wines of the Old World, a marked contrast to the fortified wines supplied to the colonies by English merchants. Jefferson even envisioned a domestic wine industry, viewing independence from English wine imports as a small but meaningful act of patriotism.
