By most accounts, the state of our economy has hit an epic low. The ripple sent through our financial systems through bank failures, stock sell-offs and credit collapse will surely be felt by all. The picture painted by analysts is bleak, leading many to refer back to the Great Depression.
On Oct. 29 1929, referred to as "Black Tuesday," stock markets crashed, banks collapsed and people all over the developing world were faced with work stoppages and cash shortfalls: economic hard times that led to skyrocketing unemployment and food shortages that would last for 10 years, until the economy was rushed together with the advent of World War II in 1939.
Arriving during the even darker period of American history known as Prohibition, which began in 1919 and affected the production of most all wineries, the Great Depression all but destroyed a seasoned and growing wine industry. After recovering from the devastating 1906 earthquake, California was reduced to the production of sacramental wine in the 1920s and business stopped once the Depression hit. Immigrants and pioneers who settled in Oregon and Washington also brought knowledge of European wine craft with them, planting vineyards as early as 1825. Unfortunately, the wine industry in those states was also shut down from the mid-1920s until almost 1970. The Finger Lakes region of New York also saw its promising industry dismantled at the same time. Consumer demand had dropped, so by the time that Prohibition was repealed most wineries had shut down their operations. And right in our backyard, the North Fork Valley of Colorado - home to an emerging boutique wine industry today - had the highest concentration of grape vines in the world before the Great Depression.
Benjamin Franklin, our nation's earliest oenophile, said "wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance." In that spirit, it is easy to understand that during the Great Depression, wine could be a simple pleasure and a blessing. But with most wineries shut down, where did people get their wine and what were they drinking? The rich, who were the least affected during this period, still kept cellars full of fine wine, mostly Bordeaux and Burgundy from France, which still produced great vintages during the Prohibition years. The economic challenges facing the world markets at the time caused the French negociants - businessmen who would buy up large lots of wine to bottle and sell - to look for larger suppliers of cheaper wine. This gave rise to the vignerons themselves looking for buyers and setting up their own contracts, practices still at work today.
The middle and lower classes of Americans - hardest hit by the economics of the Great Depression - had to make due with what they could. A little ingenuity amongst a people born of recent immigrants led to homegrown operations that sprang up all over our countryside. The Germans brought grapes to Iowa, and in the early 1930s, a bit before the end of Prohibition, wine was being made in church basements to be rationed out on a weekly basis. It was said there was plenty for everyone. In New York, Italian immigrants - no strangers to tough times - made gardens and grew tomatoes and greens to have with pasta. A jug of homemade wine made from carefully tended vines, resting in a corner of the kitchen, would bring cheer to a family at the end of a hard day. The "cocina povera," or kitchen of poverty, was a humble and bright place, full of vegetables, soups and fresh bread. Others settled on homemade wines made from dandelions, plums or cherries. A little boiling water, sugar and time was all that was needed. Proof that wine fueled art and culture during the Great Depression, as it always will, was the government-backed Works Progress Administration. Such important painters as Thomas Hart Benton, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollack arose to fame through the work finished while being funded from this project.
What can we take from this? If the impending times truly reflect a recession, we will need wine more than ever. Will the quality of wines we drink take a plunge? I am sure winemakers and sellers are wringing their hands about how the wine industry will be affected. We have all become accustomed to both the rising quality and cost of fine wine. A weakening economy may mean a drop in the first and a rise in the second. With prices for Napa Cabernet and Bordeaux having already gone through the roof, it is a safe bet that the exploding worldwide market of value-based wines will become an even more important player. Don't give up on the bottle; look for wines from Chile, South Africa and New Zealand to become even more popular. In fact, the incredibly good, under-10 dollar Argentinian malbec I have been enjoying recently is something to cherish. In the meantime, make every day sweet by surrounding yourself with love, family, great simple food, beautiful music and a heaping dose of laughter. And don't forget the wine. Cheers! Remember, wine reveals truth.
Drew Stofflet is the sommelier for Ella, in Carbondale. Correspond with him at aspendrew@hotmail.com.
