Benjamin Wallace - The Billionaire's Vinegar

His mansion on the Champs-Élysées Gabler, Passions, 30–31.

a household staff that included a frotteur Howard C. Rice, Jr., Thomas Jefferson’s Paris (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), 40.

Jefferson hosted frequent dinner parties William Howard Adams, The Paris Years of Thomas Jefferson (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 19.

Franklin, for one, kept a substantial cellar Hailman, Thomas Jefferson on Wine, 75.

“proof that God loves us” Ibid., 76.

he justified the trip Letter from TJ to James Madison, January 30, 1787, Papers XI, 92–97.

“your voyage is rather for your pleasure” Letter from Martha Jefferson to TJ, March 8, 1787, Papers XI, 203–4.

first part constructed Hailman, Thomas Jefferson on Wine, 38.

One story, passed down among Jefferson’s slaves “Once the Slave of Thomas Jefferson,” New York World, January 30, 1898.

first planted vines Hailman, Thomas Jefferson on Wine, 372.

encouraged an Italian immigrant Ibid., 47.

a single trunk Letter from TJ to Madame de Tott, April 5, 1787, Papers XI, 271.

Wanting to experience the real France Letter from TJ to Chastellux, April 4, 1787, Papers XI, 261–62.

he traveled incognito Letter from TJ to William Short, March 15, 1787, Papers XI, 214–16.

basked in the scattered ruins Letter from TJ to Madame de Tessé, March 20, 1787, Papers XI, 226–28.

talked his way into people’s homes Letter from TJ to Lafayette, April 11, 1787, Papers XI, 283–85.

closely studied… the techniques of wine making TJ, “Notes of a Tour into the Southern Parts of France, &c.,” Papers XI, 455–56.

compulsively inquisitive… spoke French well enough Ibid., 455–57.

luxuriated in the southern sun Letter from TJ to Willam Short, March 27, 1787, Papers XI, 246–48.

soaked his aching wrist ten times a day Letter from TJ to William Short, April 7, 1787, Papers XI, 280–81.

ate the tiny thrushes called ortolans TJ, “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 454.

for nine days, Jefferson left the road Letter from TJ to William Short, May 21, 1787.

trees full of nightingales Letter from TJ to Martha Jefferson, May 21, 1787, Papers XI, 368–69.

loved traveling this way… wheelless atop the barge Letter from TJ to William Short, May 21, 1787, Papers XI, 371–73.

wouldn’t write a single letter to her E. M. Halliday, Understanding Thomas Jefferson (New York: Harper Perennial, 2001), 69.

corn, rye, and beans… nothing but grapevines TJ, “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 454.

glass windows Letter from TJ to William Short, May 21, 1787, Papers XI, 371–73.

“those seaports with which we trade” Letter from TJ to William Carmichael, February 18, 1787, Papers XI, 164–65.

The place was booming Hugh Johnson, The Story of Wine—New Illustrated Edition (London: Mitchell Beazley, 2005), 138, 145; Arthur Young, Travels in France & Italy During the Years 1787, 1788 and 1789 (J.M. Dent & Sons/E.P. Dutton, 1915), 57–59.

checked into the Hôtel de Richelieu TJ, Papers, Second Series: Jefferson’s Memorandum Books (edited by Bear and Stanton), 668.

a portable copying press Letter from TJ to William Stephens Smith, January 15, 1787, Papers XI, 46.

had been released from debtor’s prison Jefferson’s Memorandum Books I, 668n.

“on acct. of… Marocco [sic] mission” Ibid.

bet him a bottle of Burgundy Letter from TJ to William Short, June 1, 1787, Papers XI, 395–96.

visited the ruins TJ, “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 454–55.

day trip southwest to Château Haut-Brion Ibid., 457.

On his third night in the city Jefferson’s Memorandum Books I, 668.

The girls who danced and sang there Young, Travels in France, 57–58.

enjoyed meals… admired the procession of elms TJ, “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 455.

The quay Young, Travels in France, 56–57.

cream-colored oxen TJ, “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 454.

Increasingly the wine was going André L. Simon, Bottlescrew Days (Boston: Small Maynard & Company, 1927), 161.

recent reinvention of the cork and the glass bottle Johnson, Story of Wine, 104–6.

the development of cylindrical bottles Ibid., 164.

“fury of planting” Nicholas Faith, The Winemasters of Bordeaux (London: Prion, 1999), 29–32; Johnson, The Story of Wine, 140.

a specific hierarchy Simon, Bottlescrew Days, 157–58.

“of fine quality” Letter from TJ to Bondfield, January 24, 1786, Papers IX, 210–11.

two livres each Gabler, Passions, 132.

the quality pyramid… 150,000 bottles annually TJ, “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 454–56.

Pepys Faith, Winemasters, 17.

Locke Ibid., 24.

the London Gazette was announcing Ibid., 26.

The Duc de Richelieu Faith, Winemasters, 43–44; Cyril Ray, Lafite (New York: Stein & Day, 1969), 20–21.

By the time of Jefferson’s visit in 1787 “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 456.

Falernian Johnson, The Story of Wine, 36.

Steinwein Ibid., 155.

finest available year TJ, “Notes of a Tour,” Papers, XI, 457.

“the best vintage… in nine years” Letter from TJ to Alexander Donald, February 15, 1788, Papers XII, 594–95.

252 bottles of 1784 Haut-Brion Letter to TJ from Feger, Gra-mont & Cie., June 2, 1787, and footnote, Papers XI, 396–97.

“I cannot deny myself the pleasure” Letter from TJ to Francis Eppes, May 26, 1787, Papers XI, 378–79.

personal taxonomy of wine “Jefferson’s Tasting Vocabulary,” R. de Treville Lawrence, III, ed., Jefferson and Wine (The Plains, Virginia: The Vinifera Wine Growers Association, 1989), 108–13.

resolved to make it his standard practice Letter from TJ to John Bondfield, December 18, 1787, Papers XII, 434.

“it is from them alone” Letter from TJ to Alexander Donald, September 17, 1787, Papers XII, 132–34.

Dutch merchants dosed claret Faith, Winemasters, 14.

the Bordeaux negociants Ibid., 67–71.

The Pardoner warned his listeners Rod Phillips, A Short History of Wine (New York: Ecco, 2000), 109.

“Trade morality has come to such a pass…” H. Warner Allen, The Romance of Wine (New York: Dover, 1971), 243.

“the Golden Age of Wine Faking” Ibid., 238–40.

“coloured to resemble claret” Faith, Winemasters, 69.

Paris officials analyzed Phillips, A Short History of Wine, 199.

spoke with a broker named Desgrands “Notes of a Tour,” Papers XI, 457.

“I would prefer to receive it directly” Letter from TJ to d’Yquem, December 18, 1787, Papers XII, 435; translation in Lawrence, Jefferson and Wine, 70–71.