(light intro music)
- Hi and welcome to between the lines.
I'm your host, Lea Woodford,
and with me today is John Peragine, author of Iowa Wine.
Who knew John?
- Well that's.. - Iowa! (laughing)
- Right, you know when I talk about this book
and the creation of the book,
a lot of people give me that same reaction
that they don't believe that there was wine in Iowa,
or that there is wine in Iowa.
In fact, there's over 100 wineries now in Iowa again.
People usually think about row crops like corn or soybeans,
but they don't think about
Iowa being a big producer of wine.
And at one point during the late 1800's, early 1900's,
they were the number six producer
in the United States of wine.
- That is just amazing.
But one thing in this book is
there are lots, lots, and lots, and lots of pictures.
I mean historical pictures.
- Yes.
- I mean I'm seeing distilleries and I-
It is a history. - Yeah.
- Let's talk about that this is a historical book, right.
- It is a history of the industry and the industry,
if you think about before-
You know there's California is where
people think about wine now.
They had to come west.
And so families from Germany, Italy,
they brought this knowledge of how to make wine.
And in fact, there were communities like Amana,
and you might know Amana because they make, you know.
- Right.
- [Both] Appliances.
- And so, there was a whole community there at one time,
and you can still visit Amana.
But their whole community was based on wine.
They had this whole community creating communal wine,
and every month you got a ticket
and you got part of that communal wine in.
And a lot of the houses
actually had grapes growing on the side,
not only because they wanted to grow grapes,
but it became kind of insulation for the homes.
So their whole life was based on that.
And a lot of the people that came over,
that was something that they did back in Europe,
was produce wines.
And so, while the soil was a little different,
and of course people think,
" Well, how can grapes grow in the Midwest?"
And there were varieties of grapes that already grew there.
One of the common ones was Catawba grapes.
- And there was a lot of.. - I don't think I've
heard of that
- Yeah, Catawba grapes.
- So it's kind of a red grape, and the thing about
if you ever taste wines from the Midwest,
they tend to be sweet.
The reason is that the amount of time that
the grapes are in the sun is much shorter.
So where you have California wines that'll give you,
or even wines from, let's say, Italy,
they have all the sunshine.
I can attest, living in the Midwest,
there's not a whole lot of days of sunshine.
So you have these grapes, while they can be sweet,
they don't have that complexity.
So often times they would add sugar
to add to the complexity of the wines.
So a lot of people, even the wines made there now,
have kind of that added sugar
to give it a little bit of depth.
But again, the Catawba grapes were there,
Concord grapes were another one.
We all know that because that's Welch's grape juice.
But these were, they were very adaptive
during the early settling of the areas.
These were grapes that did really well.
The grapes that their growing now
there's many more varieties being created now
because the grapes, the roots to the grapes like Catawba,
were great for the soil, for the temperature.
So now their creating hybrids.
So their bringing stuff from Italy, from France,
and their adding the new varieties.
So their creating new varieties all the time
that grow really well.
In fact, you and I have talked,
that I have a little vineyard in my backyard,
and one of the varieties that I grow is Catawba,
but there's also those hybrids that we're able to grow now.
And so the industry's growing again.
- So what was the most fun writing this book?
I would think looking - Oh, it was fun
- It looked like it was a lot of fun.
- It was.
I like history.
I've made wine for years,
But it was also being able to talk to some of the people
that really re- as much as they can remember the industry
or listening to the stories.
Because there's lots of stories that are in the book
that I was able to gather from these old farm families,
and collecting those images that they've had
in their attic or wherever.
And going to the libraries and doing the research.
Of course, it never hurts hanging out
and drinking wine while you're-
- What a great job!
- Right, exactly.
And so, I'm starting my book tour the next couple months,
and of course most of them are wineries,
and so it's not a bad gig to be able to do.
But I do, I enjoyed some of the stories,
there's some great stories
that are connected to American history.
Some of the, you know how did the industry grow.
There's a couple really great stories in there
relating all the way back to Abraham Lincoln
after the Civil War and after the American-Indian War,
which we don't hear as much about.
You had what the called the half-breed program.
The half-breed program
was descendants of Native American and European,
and they were given tracks of land.
Well some of these tracks of land
became these gigantic vineyards that were put into Iowa.
Because Abraham Lincoln really wanted to start
a wine industry in Iowa and in Illinois.
- Wow! - So that was
kind of what built it up.
And the other thing about the book is you know,
What happened?
Why don't we have these vast vineyards anymore?
Part of it is some really bad winters.
Again, even if they're adapted,
if you have sub-zero temperatures,
even like we did this year,
they can be very damaging.
The other thing are pesticides
that we started using for row crops like corn, destroyed.
They are great at protecting corn, not so great for grapes.
Because these were, 24D was one of the things I talk about,
was one of the components named Agent Orange
during the Vietnam War.
Great at killing vines, so- - Right
- So that kind of decimated.
And then prohibition.
Prohibition was that other thing and
- Glad that's over with. (laughing)
- Right.
So Iowa's actually an early adopter of prohibition.
So even before it became a national thing,
they had prohibited making wine,
other than for religious purposes.
So Amana was able to exist through that period
because they did it as part of their religious community.
- Now wine is such, it is historical.
It's been around since biblical days
- Mm-Hm
- But why do you think we enjoy wine so much?
I know I do!
- Well I didn't really fully understand it
until I had my own vineyard.
And just taking the grapes and crushing the grapes,
and it's just this real pure process.
It's different than probably any other alcoholic beverage.
So there's not a whole lot of-
to make wine is not a difficult thing to do.
To make great wines are
difficult to do. (laughing)
But to process, and I think that's why
wine's been around so long.
Is because it's actually a natural process.
I mean, grapes have their own yeast and stuff so
we've refined the process,
but it's just a very natural thing that
we get to actually taste, taste the vineyard basically.
Somebody asked me recently,
"Do grapes absorb what around?"
And I said "Absolutely."
In North Carolina after the tobacco industry kind of failed,
tobacco farmers started to plant vineyards.
And a lot of the first red wines
tasted just like cigarettes.
They had such a strong tobacco flavor.
It's 'cause it was in the soil for so long.
But I think there's also that, like you said,
this cultural context.
It's been around, it's in our religious facet.
It's in our books and literature.
And so there's just this,
and family has kind of passed this down.
This is why Iowa was one of those places
that people settled,
and they immediately wanted to develop-
- And I love all the pictures,
and the historical, - Yeah
- I mean I'm looking at the distilleries,
I'm looking at the vines.
It's just passed down from
- It is. - generation to generation.
And then these are artisans.
- Oh absolutely.
- I think- - Absolutely.
- I think that there's just an amazing,
it's so elegant.
- Mm-Hm
- Even the glassware is elegant.
- Yes.
- I mean I'm really picky about
the wine glass that I
drink out of! - Right, right.
- Can we talk about that a little bit.
- Sure.
- A lot of people just learning to drink wine,
they don't really understand
the significance of the glassware.
- Well and there's also, it's not just the look of it.
You really need the right glass for the right wine.
Because they have,
one of the things about wine and it breathing,
is it has to open up.
If you have an aged wine that's been in a bottle for years,
you need to allow it to open up.
And there's certain kinds of glasses that go with
certain kinds of wine.
You have the champagne, you have the red,
which is more of like a bowl.
So it's taking in more oxygen.
Where's the white's are smaller slimware.
So it's not only the elegance of it,
there's this practical of having the right glass
with the right kind of wine.
Because it will just change the flavor,
and also the aroma that comes-
- That's one of my favorite parts,
is a really good smelling, you know, just-
it's an experience!
I think wine is something that you don't drink,
you experience.
- That's absolutely right.
Yeah, it is an experience, and taking in the smell of it.
It's interesting now that I have the vineyards
so now I can smell, and also taste the grapes
before, you know that was one of the things
I didn't get to do until recently,
was actually taste the grapes
before they become wine.
They are not like what you get,
like the kind you pick up in your supermarket.
They're very sweet, very complex flavors.
Very different than eating grapes.
Although you can make some wines out of eating grapes,
or what they call table grapes.
But wine grapes, just real complex flavors to them.
- What's your favorite wine?
- Oh gosh, you know I think that really depends on
what I'm eating, or the time of year.
During the summer I like a white wine that's been chilled.
If I'm having a particular dinner, I like Kiwanis.
I like Italian wines, Spanish wines.
Something with a little spice and a little depth to them.
But I think everybody's different in what their loves are.
I usually drink red wine
just because it's actually a more complex process.
- I like red too.
- Yeah, and the difference between white and red, its not,
I mean they expect there to be white grapes.
Really, it's the process.
So with a red grape, they're gonna put the skins on the wine
so that it draws out those tannins.
Which is that kind of strange feel
sometimes you get on your tongue.
But also adds that color to it.
So red wines are just,
it's just a slightly different process,
but it does add that depth to them.
- What do you think our viewers
are gonna be most surprised about
other than "vuloom",
Iowa had wine!
- You know, one of the reasons, and I think
one of the reasons I wrote the book,
is not that there's this whole new industry
of these small wineries,
not these giant expansive-
- I know they're like boutique
Wineries. - Right they're very boutique.
And I think what they'll realize is that
a lot of the things we were kind of challenged with then,
we're still challenged with today.
I mean some of the things that kind of contribute
to the downfall of the industry.
But also the understanding that when we're talking about
organic and things like that,
grapes are one of those things that
absorb what's in their environment.
And so just being more aware, maybe of American History too,
because there's some really great stories in there.
- There are.
- There are some great stories
of the challenges that they had,
and actually how it played into history.
I mean, wine's one of those things
that was kind of like gold.
People fought over it, they fought over the land,
and finding the best land.
Or finding, or settling a whole community.
And these communities still exist,
but they don't realize that they were based on
where they were planting grapes.
- Well you know,
you've combined two of my favorite subjects,
(laughing) history and wine!
And to read this and read about Abraham Lincoln,
who knew?
- Right yeah that's a fascinating story.
(mumbling) - It is.
John how can our viewers get more information
about you and your fabulous book?
- Well as far as the book,
it's available on amazon.
This was published by History Press,
so they can go to I think its
Arcadia Publishing History Press
if they want to buy directly from them.
If they're in Iowa, it's gonna be in most book stores.
Arcadia Press is great because they have this local history
of books that they can get at Walgreens and big box stores.
As far as contacting me, my website's, very simple,
johnpwriter.com
and they can also contact me if they'd like a copy.
- So fun, so fun.
Thank you John for being on the show.
- Thank you, I appreciate it.
- This has been Lea Woodford with between the lines,
thanks for watching.