Wine Wanderers 7

Wine-based cocktails from the American Civil War

Veins and Vines: A Historical Perspective of Winemaking in the Sierra Foothills

Part 2: The Civil War and the Rise of the Zinfandel Grape

Ingredients for homemade liquor-Union Army-
bark juice
tar-water
turpentine
brown sugar
lamp oil
alcohol

Deep, grey clouds unfurled in the early morning of April 12, 1861, the skies becoming a deep burgundy, the dawn air clouded with the miasma of war as Confederate troops marched against the Union stronghold of Fort Sumter. The cannon fire that smashed against Sumter’s bastions and leaving it a smoldering ruin signaled the official beginning of the American Civil war, as the Stars and Bars attempted to wrest their power from the Stars and Stripes. For the next five years, fields, towns and cities, from Gettysburgh through Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to Shiloh would be strewn with the bodies of soldiers, arms and bayonets twisted toward the heavens, the soil becoming a musty pulp of blood and earth.

3,000 miles to the west of the Eastern and Southern theaters of war, in another Shenandoah Valley, other arms began to twist upwards, bearing fruit instead of firearms. Local winemakers began to flourish: vines and wine was generated faster than bullets and bayonets on the industrial East Coast. California also embroiled itself in the rage of war, Southern California becoming largely secessionist, while Northern California remained fiercely loyal to the Union, as those that had earned riches during the previous decade’s gold rush would send money and support. On both sides, days were filled with somberness and celebration, a wine filled the goblets, imbibing such wine-based cocktails as the “Hour Before the Battle” (Madeira wine and a dash of bitters), a “Red Bordeaux Wine” (a mixture of “strong red wine, plain red wine and tincture of aldeberries”) and, a “Champagne”: an incendiary mixture of white wine, grain alcohol and bicarbonate of soda. Such creative cocktailing would have one feel as if a cannonball collided against his or her skull the next morning.

The Italians, French, Germans, Slavs, Swiss and Englishmen that settled in the ‘Foothills began to root themselves in winemaking, as the Civil war tended to push many to drink. By 1862, Amador County began producing a sizeable amount of grapes, and by the mid 1860s, commercial winemaking became a means to make a living. An article from the San Francisco State Bulletin took note: “The loamy bottom lands produce the largest and most luscious grapes in all of California” and “red gravel lands of the hills and plains produce grapes that yield the best flavored and most lasting wines.” Soon, another north-south battled ensued; vintners from Northern and Southern California sought victory on the vine and in the wine. At the end of the war, the Amador’s Shenandoah Valley began to grow Zinfandel grape.

While America was mopping up the debris of the war and lugubriously enacting new laws during the Reconstruction, the Sierra Foothill wine region flourished. One of the ‘Valleys foremost winegrower was a Swiss immigrant named Adam Uhlinger. Uhlinger was one of the first who officially committed his occupation to that of “wine grower.” Uhlinger and his clan realized the limitations of the Mission and Catawba grapes that were giving the local growers a royal headache (both figuratively and literally), and began concentrating on planting “foreign” ie…Zinfandel...grapes., the varietal that Amador County is best known for (what Cabernet is to Napa, Zinfandel is to the Shenandoah Valley). Uhlinger would become known for growing and cultivating white and “sweet” Zinfandel grapes through the 1870s and the 1880s. Today, Uhlinger's legacy of fostering commercial cultivation of wine in Northern California can be found in a small museum at Plymouth’s Sobon Estate Winery on Shenandoah Road.


Civil War Cocktails:

GRAPE WINE NO. 2

1 gallon grapes
1 gallon water, soft
3 lb. sugar

One gallon of grapes free from stems and blemishes, one gallon of soft boiled water; bruise the grapes and let them stand with the water seven days without stirring; draw off the liquor, and to every gallon allow three pounds of loaf-sugar; put it in a barrel, cover with a blanket, and close the bung as soon as the wine ceases to hiss. It will be fit for bottling in from six to nine months.

From Bon-Vivant's Companion, or, How To Mix Drinks, Jerry Thomas, 1862.

CLARET AND CHAMPAGNE CUP, A LA BRUNOW

The following claret and champagne cup ought, from its excellence, to be called the nectar of the Czar, as it is so highly appreciated in Russia, where for many years it has enjoyed a high reputation amongst the aristocracy of the Muscovite empire. Proportions:

3 bottles claret [a type of red wine]
2/3 pint Curacao
1 pint sherry
1/2 pint brandy
2 wine glasses [ about 1 cup] raspberry liqueur
3 sliced oranges
1 sliced lemon
A Few Green Balm Sprigs
A Few Borage Sprigs
2 bottles German seltzer water
Pieces of cucumber rind [peel]
3 bottles Soda Water

Stir the above together and sweeten with pounded sugar until it ferments. Let it stand one hour, strain and ice it well. It is then fit for use. Serve in small glasses. For a Champagne Cup, use champagne instead of claret and Creme du Noyau instead of raspberry liqueur.

The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia by Mrs. E. F. Haskell, 1861

HOUR BEFORE THE BATTLE

1 c. sherry or Madeira wine
dash bitters

Add the above to a mixing glass, stir, and serve in a wine glass.

From Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks by William Terrington, 1864


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