Background
John James Dufour was born around 1763 in the commune of Chatelard, district of Vevay, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland. He was the eldest child of Jean Jacques Dufour, a Swiss vinedresser.
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book
The American Vine-Dresser's Guide: Being a Treatise on the Cultivation of the Vine, and the Process of Wine Making Adapted to the Soil and Climate of the ... (American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection)
( Authored by wine connoisseur John James DeFour, who est...)
Authored by wine connoisseur John James DeFour, who established the first commercial vineyard in the United States, The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide is an amazingly thorough work on grape growing and wine making specifically adapted to the American climate and soil. Despite being published nearly 200 years ago in 1826, DeFour’s practices and recommendations are still being utilized and referenced today since little has changed in the wine-making industry. DeFour’s knowledge and understanding of the process were very far advanced compared with the technology available in his day. With extensive tips and information about grape selections, watering grapes, manure, soil fertility, barreling wine, and much more, The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide is truly a wine-making tome with as much relevance today as in the early 19th century. Of the importance of wine and grapes, DeFour states in the preface, “. . . show the consequence on the health, temperance and cheerfulness of the people generally in any country, where there is a sufficient supply of genuine wine, which is equal to the provision of bread stuff.” This edition of The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the Society is a research library documenting the lives of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. The society collects, preserves, and makes available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection comprises approximately 1,100 volumes.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Vine-Dressers-Guide-Cultivation-Antiquarian-ebook/dp/B00CLMJ8Y4?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00CLMJ8Y4
John James Dufour
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Dufour came to America in 1796 with the definite purpose of founding a grape colony to cultivate the grape, for wine. After an extensive search for a suitable situation for the vineyard, he arrived at Lexington, Kentucky, on Aug. 28, 1798, where he organized a vineyard association. A tract of 630 acres, called the First Vineyard, was purchased on the Kentucky River about twenty-five miles from Lexington. After the vineyard was well started, Dufour sent for his brothers and sisters in Switzerland. They, with relatives and friends, a little band of seventeen, arrived at the First Vineyard in the summer of 1801. They were full oi hope but their efforts were doomed to failure, as a fatal disease soon attacked the vines. Some members of the colony then started the Second Vineyard, down the Ohio River at a place now called Vevay, Indiana. The subscribers to the Vineyard Association having become disheartened, the association was dissolved and the full burden of carrying on the vineyards rested on the Swiss colony. In 1806 Dufour was obliged to return to Europe. He left the vineyards in the hands of his younger brothers. The second war with England broke out in his absence and he was delayed in returning until 1816. In the meantime his brothers abandoned the First Vineyard and joined the other colonists at Vevay. Here Dufour joined them on his return to America and here he wrote his book, The American Vine Dresser’s Guide. He died at Vevay at the age of sixty-four, a few months after his book was published.
Achievements
Works
book
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The American Vine-Dresser's Guide: Being a Treatise on the Cultivation of the Vine, and the Process of Wine Making Adapted to the Soil and Climate of the ... (American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection)
( Authored by wine connoisseur John James DeFour, who est...)
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The American Vine-Dresser's Guide: Being a Treatise on the Cultivation of the Vine, and the Process of Wine Making Adapted to the Soil and Climate of the ... (American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection)
Personality
Dufour was a man of unusual intelligence, forethought, and perseverance.
