The day after visiting Monticello, and after visiting UVA, we drove to Jefferson Vineyards to extend our Jeffersonian tour.
1773 ORIGINS
In 1773, an Italian vitculturist from Tuscany, named Filippo Mazzei, visited Thomas Jefferson at Monticello while en route to the Shenandoah.
Explaining that he was encouraged by Benjamin Franklin to cultivate Italian vines in Virginia, Mazzei was en route to Augusta County to obtain land promised him by the Virginia legislature.
JEFFERSON OFFERS MONTICELLO LAND
Since they shared a similar vision, Jefferson knew the perfect spot for cultivating European vines in Virginia, a section of Monticello acreage of which Jefferson described as: having a southeast aspect and an abundance of lean and meager spots of stony and red soil, without sand, resembling extremely the Côte of Burgundy from Chambertin to Montrachet where the famous wines of Burgundy are made.
Purchasing more adjoining acreage from Edward Carter, built a house on the property, which he named Colle, Italian for hill.
After forming a Virginia Wine Company, Mazzei obtained 38 shareholders, which included famous Virginians such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, George Mason, Peyton Randolph, and John Blair.
Mazzei’s cultivation team planted their first vineyard in the Colle soil in April 1774, only to be destroyed by a heavy frost in May.
Despite the atypically late freeze, Mazzei was convinced that soil Virginia’s soil and climate were ideally suited to cultivating vines:
I am of the opinion that…the best wines in the word will be made there…I do not believe that nature is so favorable to growing vines in any country as this. -Fillipo Mazzei
MAZZEI PATRIOT IN AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Amidst his cultivation efforts, the American Revolution called Mazzei, a true American patriot, to service.
In 1775, Mazzei joined a volunteer militia from Albemarle County after British troops landed in Hampton, Virginia.
Speaking in churches about the need for religious freedom as advocated by Jefferson, Mazzei received a copy of a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Then Jefferson used some of Mazzei’s writings to the Albemarle delegates to draft a state constitution after independence was declared.
For the duration of the war, Mazzei returned to Tuscany to seek financial assistance and intelligence, at the encouragement of Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Patrick Henry.
VINES DESTROYED
Meanwhile Mazzei’s leased his Colle property, apparently to a Hessian and a German POW.
Within the first week the tennants were on the property, the horses trampled the vines and destroyed the whole labour of three or four years, and thus ended an experiment, which, from every appearance, would in a year or two more have established the practicability of that branch of culture in America. –Jefferson Vineyards
Mazzei was never able to resume his cultivation of vines in Virginia.
COLLE AND MICHIE TAVERN CONNECTIONS
Rumor has it that parts from the Colle manor house were used to restore Michie Tavern after it was relocated below Monticello.
WOODWARD FAMILY BUYS COLLE
In 1939, the Woodwards purchase Colle and build a new home on Mazzie’s original foundation.
To prevent commercial development in the late 1960s on the historic corridor between Monticello and Ashlawn Highland, the Woodwards purchase an additional 400 acres, increasing the footprint of Colle.
VINEYARDS SUCCESS
In 1981, the Woodwards hire Gabriele Rausse to help establish their vineyards, after seeing his success at Barboursville Vineyards.
Successful plantings lead to naming the family business, Simeon Vineyards.
The second generation of Woodwards become the new managers in 1993, renaming the family business to Jefferson Vineyards.
Twenty years later, in 2013, the third generation of Woodwards take over management of the historic vineyard.
PURCHASED BY THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION
In January 2023, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation purchased Jefferson Vineyards.
The Jefferson Vineyards sale includes the winery and about 400 acres of vineyard land. The Woodward family retains about 300 acres, including the Colle site of Mazzei’s home and vineyard. –Dave McIntyre, Washington Post
OUR VINEYARD EXPERIENCE
Since others in my party were non-Texans, they craved air conditioning in the summer heat, and I couldn’t blame them since there was little shade even underneath the patio umbrellas.
Choosing wine flights, we were not able to customize them, so we traded out the ones we didn’t like with each other, since we are opposites, so that worked great!
The Viognier, the signature grape of Virginia, was my favorite of the wines I sampled!
Sadly, there wasn’t much of a view from the practically plain interior, since there were few windows.
My favorite things here are the location near Monticello, the Viognier wine, and learning this is the birthplace of Virginia winemaking.
We experienced one more winery on the Monticello Wine Trail. Stay tuned!
