Wherever possible, wine growing accompanied European imperial expansion. It was introduced into Mexico during the first decades of the sixteenth century and from there spread southward in rapid order to Peru, Chile, and Argentina. Its northward expansion was slower, but eventually by the late eighteenth century it had reached what is now California. Catholic missions had established the first vineyards in both directions. They were small, and the wine produced went mainly to celebrate the mass, but some was also consumed at meals by priests and monks and by nearby Spanish settlers. Wine, however, was not to be given to the local Indians.
Where and when wine was first made in the eastern part of the United States remains in dispute. Some give the credit to French Huguenots at a settlement near Jacksonville, Florida, in the 1560s; others point to the settlers of a contemporaneous Spanish colony on Santa Elena Island off the coast of Georgia; and still others say it was the Jamestown settlers. Whoever they were, they would have used wild native American grapes, including the muscadines. The pungency of wines made from these grapes was not greatly appreciated, and throughout the colonial period attempts were made to grow vinifera varieties. Without exception, however, the vineyards died within a few years of planting (we shall see why in the next section). Reconciling themselves to this fact, wine makers turned their attention toward domesticating and improving the indigenous vines, the first of which, known as the Alexander, appeared at the end of the eighteenth century.
Vinifera found a much more hospitable environment at the very southern tip of Africa. Here the Dutch East India Company chose Table Bay as the site for establishing a colony in 1652 to revictual their ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and vines were among one of the first crops to be planted. In the late 1680s, a group of French Huguenot refugees arrived; they brought wine-growing expertise with them and extended the area devoted to vineyards. The vines did so well in the mild Mediterranean climatic conditions of the Cape region that not only were the ships resupplied with ample quantities for their crews, but exports were also sent to Europe. One result was a rich dessert-type wine known as Constantia that gained considerable renown in the early 1700s.
Wine growing was attempted by the first Australian settlers who arrived at Sydney Harbor in the 1780s using seeds and cuttings obtained from Europe and the Cape. But the prevailing high heat and humidity militated against success and, in any event, more money could be made raising sheep. It was not until the 1820s that wine growing in Australia finally found a congenial environment in the Hunter Valley. Other areas in Victoria, southern Australia, and western Australia came into production in the 1830s and 1840s when wine-making efforts were also occurring on the North Island of New Zealand.
World History
