Building Wine Culture: German Immigration and the Shaping of Wine in America
Early English colonist to North America envisioned a land of grapes. They hoped that the future vineyards of Virginia would ween Britain off of expensive foreign imports and give the motherland a cornucopia of its own.
These vineyards turned out to be a catastrophic failure. Mold, fungus and the then unknown phylloxera, devastated all the new world’s best attempts. But while home grown wine was impossible in the new land, a certain stripe of early Americans enjoyed the finest imports. Noted enophile Thomas Jefferson had a massive collection of the finest European wines. The unique location of Madeira made the wines of the island popular both during colonial and independent era. But with the failures of domestic wine production, wine consumption was far from mainstream; it remained a luxury, out of reach for many. This all shifted in 1848, with the revolution that almost happened.
In that year Europe exploded with nationalist fever and rebellions rocked cities like Berlin, Vienna, Budapest and Paris. The streets of Europe filled with students, laborers, professionals and merchants seeking political and social change against authoritarian Monarchs. These series of revolts, called the “Springtime of the People”, while promising at the start, fell short. The result was an unprecedented wave of emigration from the German speaking world. Nearly a million of these German immigrants arrived in the United States in the succeeding decade after the failed revolution. While previous waves of German immigration consisted mostly of craftsmen and farmers, this new generation of Americans came from an educated class of teachers, lawyers and writers. They brought with them liberal idealism and a thirst for fine wine. This influx of middle class immigrants laid the groundwork for the modern American beverage industry.
Strong social organizations and clubs were at heart of 1848 and the new immigrants continued in the tradition in America. Manhattan below 14th Street and east of the Bowery was known as Kleindeutschland until the turn of the 20th century. Avenue B was lined with oyster houses, beer halls and restaurants. These centers of society were recreations of the culture they left behind, filled with many of the same luxuries. Imported German beer and wine were sold in barrels shipped by fast steamships out of Hamburg. Restaurants and other nightlife lined the Bowery drawing New Yorker’s from every cultural background. Middle class Germans helped introduction modern conventions of dining and restaurants to the United States. German enclaves became a destinations for diners and drinkers from Baltimore, Milwaukee to San Francisco.
These early modern restaurants helped set the pace for the new American restaurant culture. These boisterous public eating places were different from the private home or members clubs that were common in the dominate Anglo-Saxon, American culture. These restaurants democratized food and drink to the people. They introduced a style of eating and drinking that was opposed to the puritan moderation and temperance movements that were beginning to emerge as important social movements.
The New York Public Library has meticulously made many of these 19th century menus available to the curious researcher. The language and selection found in these menus is a remarkable relic of the beginning on American dining. They have deep cellars with offerings ranging from California, Ohio, Madeira and the Mosel, an enviable selection even by today’s global wine standards. These menus feature a level of expectations and understanding of wine that is foreign in today’s market. German wine and Champagne are highly represented on menus like Parker House in Boston in 1858. They have 19 offerings of Champagne on their wine list including two magnums. There is also some outdated language on the Champagne section like ‘cabinet’ and and shippers who have long since gone extinct. Restaurants stocked large selection of Austro-Hungarian wines, many of which would still be considered oddities in today’s eclectic wine scene. Villyani Reds, Pressburg (Bratislava) Rieslings all appear with frequency as exiled revolutionaries looked for pleasures of home.
The 48er’s did not only drive the restaurant scene in the United States but pushed innovation on the production side. Viticultural areas like Augusta, Missouri, Northwest Arkansas and the California foothills began to develop as settlers moved into the areas. Wine became a fixture of agriculture in these small communities. Wineries could be found scattered throughout the lower east side of New York as the community expanded. Throughout the United States, German entrepreneurs opened breweries with names like Schlitz, Pabst and Miller, fueled by newly viable barley fields across the Midwest. These regional producers created some of the first commercial brands for alcohol. Beer brewed in Milwaukee was sold in New York with pride alongside cheaper local brands and more expensive imports. The inherent quality of Bavarian beer was presupposed with note like “Exclusive importer” and “direct shipment” being noted on menus frequently. They created a premium identity for domestic brands by associating their new American beers and wines with familiar foreign brands.
To create familiarity for consumers, winemakers adopted generic names based on European appellations and regions. Drinkers in developing metropolitan regions were already guzzling down Claret, Burgundy and Rhine from Europe, so to convince them to drink domestic they simply began calling their domestic wine with the same names. California Sauterne and New York Champagne helped bridge the gap for many drinkers, creating expectations for flavor and profile. Domestic wines at places like Cafe Bordeaux in Manhattan sat side by side with the finest of Europe, though at a considerable discount. The large exception to the generics labels was Zinfandel which appears frequently on lists across the country. At the time the grape’s origins were unknown many thought it was native to California. Only recently through DNA testing was its Croatian origins established. Varietal labelling would become the norm in the early 20th century. Frank Schoonmaker, a New York Wine merchant, cut off from European imports in the 1930’s began distributing California wines named by their variety rather than the generic appellations. This early wine language helped develop the the wine industry of the 20th century.
The Revolutions of 1848 might have failed in Europe but they had a profound impact on the development of modern American culture. These fiercely liberal refugees brought their values, lifestyle and luxuries to American cities. Their drinking, eating and dining habits changed the way that successive generations American engage with food and beverage.
