Posted on 02/07/2022 1:50:07 PM PST by mylife
When Prohibition finally went into effect on January 16, 1920, those who owned American vineyards for the sole purpose of turning those grapes into wine faced a dilemma: tear up the vines and plant something else, or try and find a way to still make a profit from the grapes with the hope that ban on booze didn’t last very long.
This conundrum was especially felt among the vintners of the Napa Valley, who by 1920 were already making a good portion of America’s wine. Here was the problem: if these winemakers tore up their vines in search of other profits only to see Prohibition overturned a few years later, if they replanted, it could take up to ten years for those vines to start producing the kind of quality fruit they were currently producing.
Some vineyard owners just couldn’t risk it, and as soon as Prohibition was passed, they tore up their vineyards and planted orchards. But those winemakers who decided instead to stick it out came up with an ingenious way to sell their grapes and still legally make wine, becoming rich in the process.
(Excerpt) Read more at vinepair.com ...
I would totally try this, where can i get a wine brick?
no longer sold
Any grocery store, the same section as the cocaine, heroin, and meth bricks.
For the ‘enterprising’, a law like the Prohibition Act, is a challenge and a road to wealth. On the other side, if the Act had been written to the level of the most zealous in the ‘Temperance Movement’, it could not have passed. We, of the 2000s, forget how freedom-minded our ancestors were (before the Depression)!
There is a winery (or was) in Hong Kong that used basically bricks of raisins to make wine. I have no idea if they are still in business. They bought dried grapes from all over the world to to make wine in an old factory.
Here is a story about them
https://www.wine-business-international.com/wine/general/hong-kongs-own-winery
Grape concentrate. Wine making supplies
I think there was a loophole in the law that allowed one to make like 200 gallons for home use during prohibition. I know there was some kind on loop hole because my grandfather made his wine during prohibition, as he did before and after.
Very interesting! I love the warnings about what not to do with the product…so you wouldn’t “accidentally” end up making wine!
All stupid laws are met this way.
Brilliant aint it?
Great article! Thanks for posting.
My grandparents had a wine press in their basement. They made their own, possibly sharing with their friends!
I must have missed that aisle
Bookmark 😄
:)
We made raisin jack in prison... Wasn’t bad at all.
They all did back then.
Myron made wonderful Lambrusco
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