Virginia Wine at Philip Carter Winery

Our History is Wine®. Virginia's wine industry dates to the early seventeenth century when the first English settlers planted vines and made wine at the Jamestown Colony around 1608. The first settlers made wine with grapes from England, but the colonists soon became determined to grow their own grapes on Virginia soil. In 1623, the Virginia House of Burgesses enacted a law that required every householder to set aside a quarter-acre of land yearly for the purpose of growing grapes and making wine. In 1762, the Carter family of Virginia produced wine at their plantation Cleve®. These wines received international acclaim and the Carter family was recognized by the Royal Society of the Arts, UK, for the "first spirited attempt at making fine wine in America." These were the first internationally recognized wines of America. In 1763, Royal Governor Francis Fauquier certified that the Carter family was successfully growing European vines at Cleve®. This is the first recorded history of successful grape production in Virginia with European vines. In 1769, the General Assembly passed legislation called "An Act for the Encouragement of the Making of Wine." Our country's Founding Fathers and Sons of Virginia, Charles Carter, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, all contributed to the development of a wine industry in Virginia through their interest in viticulture and enology. In 1773, Jefferson allowed Italian winemaker Filippo Mazzei to plant vinifera grape plants on two thousand acres adjacent to Monticello. Jefferson and Mazzei's initial success was thwarted by the Revolutionary War and ultimately never reached fruition.

Philip Carter Winery; http://www.pcwinery.com

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• Fauquier
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