Monticello Wine Company

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1896 insurance map of Monticello Wine Co's Cellar

Founded in 1873, the Monticello Wine Company was considered the largest winery in the South, [1] making annually about 120,000 gallons of superior  wine in 1905. The company shut down after Virginia went dry at the stroke of midnight on November 1, 1916. The whole country followed on January 16, 1920.[2]

Capt. Adolph Russow (April 9, 1851 – October 8, 1923) had been in charge of the business from 1873 to 1916, and its general manager and superintendent. Russow lived in a company house at what is now 212 Wine Street. The Monticello Wine Company gave him the house after selling off its stock and closing its doors in 1916, a “victim” of state-adopted prohibition.

The Monticello Wine Company House is one of Charlottesville's individually protected properties.[3].


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Monticello Wine Co.

Capt. Adolph Russow, general manager and superintendent (1873 to 1916)
Monticello Wine Company Superintendents House: 212 Wine Street , c. 1884

This Company was organized and chartered in 1873 by pioneers in grape culture in Albemarle County, Virginia. Encountering the predjudices which prevail against native wines it met with little encouragement for the first few years. The Company struggled on, having the great advantages of perfect grapes, proper cellar facilities and experienced foreign wine makers, in an honest effort to make a full-blooded, honest grape-juice wine, with no admixtures or deleterious compounds, and has gradually worked its way up to a recognition of its true merit.

In 1878, at the request of the United States Agricultural Department, this company sent, under the charge of that Department, twelve bottles of their four kinds of red wine for the International Exposition at Paris, France. Other sections of the United States were represented there by pyramids of artistically exhibited wines, yet the final result was that seven medals were awarded to the still wines of the United States; of these the Monticello was the only one awarded a silver medal, the others being bronze, not one of which was obtained by California. Not to mention numerous awards by State and local fairs successively given this company in open competition, it was in 1884-85, at the New Orleans International Exhibition, with three cases sent at a venture, awarded two first-class medals, and again in 1889 obtained a silver medal and diploma at the Exposition Universelle at Paris, in competition with the wines of the world, by the judgment of those best qualified to decide the true merit of wines; also at the World's Columbian Exhibition at Chicago, 1893, this company was awarded two first-class medals for the superiority and excellency of their wines.

Capt. Adolph Russow has had charge of the business since 1873, and is its general manager and superintendent. He is peculiarly fitted for the position, and has the entire confidence of wine connoisseurs. Their white wines are Delaware, Dry Catawba, and Virginia Hock, a blend of Elvira, Etta and Riesling grapes fermented together. The red wines are Norton's Virginia and Cynthiana, of Burgundy character, Ives' Seedling, a ruby colored Claret, Extra Claret, of superior character, and Virginia Claret, a sound, plain table wine, Port, Sherry and Pure Grape Brandy. The demand for the goods is so great that no drummers are sent out, and it is found difficult to supply the demand. (directly from: The Daily Progress historical and industrial magazine Charlottesville, Virginia, "The Athens of the South" ,1906)

References

  1. Web. Historical Highway Markers: Monticello Wine Company, Virginia Department of Historic Resources
  2. Web. Virginia's Prohibition history, Lorraine Eaton, The Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, VA, November 30, 2008, retrieved March 20, 2019.
  3. "Charlottesville : Architectural Design Control District and Individually Protected Property Information." Charlottesville : Home. Web. 16 Aug. 2010. <http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=812>.

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