A History of Iowa Wine: Vines on the Prairie

by John N. Peragine

Overview

Iowa has a history with grapevines that goes back more than a century. New York lawyer Hiram Barney obtained a tract of land in southeast Iowa as part of the Half-Breed program following the American Indian Wars and created the White Elk Winery. German settlers in Amana tended community vineyards for communal wines. Before Prohibition, the Council Bluffs Grape Growers Association grew grapes and shipped them eastward by the ton. In the early 1900s, the state was among the nation's top producers of grapes. Pesticides, weather and government subsidies ended the time of the vines of the prairie until their recent return. Author John N. Peragine details the rise, fall and resurgence of the industry in the Hawkeye State.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467141086
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/22/2019
Series:	American Palate
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	685,327
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John Peragine is a published author of thirteen books and has ghostwritten many others. He has written for the New York Times, Reuters and Bloomberg news as a journalist. John also writes for magazines such as Writer's Digest, Wine Enthusiast, Acres USA Magazine and Speaker Magazine (National Speakers Association), just to name a few. John has been writing professionally since 2007 after working thirteen years in the field of social work, and he was the piccolo player for the Western Piedmont Symphony for twenty-four years. John lives with his wife and children on the bluffs in Davenport, Iowa, overlooking the Mississippi River. When he is not writing, he is working with his grapes in the L'oste Vineyard.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Introduction 11

1 The L'oste Vineyard 15

2 Keokuk and Black Hawk 22

3 White Elk Winery 31

4 Council Bluffs Grape Growers Association 44

5 Amana Colonies: Ten Wineries 63

6 Challenges of Growing in Iowa 92

7 Vineyard Revival 101

Bibliography 119

Index 123

About the Author 125