Virginia Dare wines gain popularity from coast to coast

North Carolina’s Virginia Dare brands of sweet wines, made from native scuppernong grapes grown on Roanoke Island and surrounding areas, developed a national following in the early 1900s. 

Soon, demand exceeded supply. Virginia Dare winemaker Paul Garrett innovated by blending the native scuppernongs with grapes from New York and California, according to North Carolina historian William Stevens Powell.

Garrett braced for the effects of Prohibition by opening new facilities outside of North Carolina. He purchased Mission Winery in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., in 1910. 

“By 1911, the winery was in full production with more than 750 acres of vineyards. Inside the winery were the large redwood tanks, some holding 52,000 gallons, in which the grape juice was stored and fermented in the old tradition,” reported John Earl, creator of The Desert Way blog site. 

During the Prohibition years, “sacramental wines” could be legally made, under license. Garrett was an Episcopalian, so he generously gave Virginia Dare wine for the use of the church,” Powell commented. 

Wine could also be prescribed by pharmacists as “medicine” during Prohibition. The Virginia Dare line of “wine tonics” promised medicinal benefits…with a 20% alcohol content to boot. 

Diversification was another strategy employed by Garrett, as he created a “dealcoholized Virginia Dare wine-like beverage, to which consumers might add their own alcohol,” Powell added. 

Perhaps, Garrett’s most brilliant undertaking, though, was the production and marketing of a “superb grape syrup, under the name ‘Vine-Glo,’ with which purchasers could make their own wine,” Powell said. 

TIME Magazine reported in 1928: “Virginia Dare Vineyards promised to ship a grape juice that would ferment into champagne in the home and thus be quite legal. A client is supplied with a keg of nonalcoholic concentrate, which Vine-Glo agents put down in his cellar. They dilute it, tend it for 60 days. By then it becomes wine of about 15% alcoholic content.” 

With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Garrett ensured that Virginia Dare brands were available in every “wet state.” He pioneered the singing radio commercial: “Say it again…Virginia Dare.”

 

After Frank Garrett died in 1940, Howard C. Paulsen and Llewellyn Barden became the key players to carry Garrett & Company forward. In 1945, they acquired Secondo Guasti’s Italian Vineyard Company, located at Ontario, Calif. – the largest vineyard in the world, with 5,000 acres. 

Authors George Walker and John Peragine said the “climate challenges” associated with the Santa Ana winds took their toll. 

Essentially, Garrett and Company fought the sandstorms…and the sandstorms won. 

Grape growing in the Cucamonga Valley progressively declined, and eventually the whole industry collapsed in this region by the early 1960s. 

Virginia Dare wines, however, have made a comeback. In 2021, Virginia Dare wines became the newest members of Delicato Family Wines, based in Napa, Calif. 

Industry analysts said that “Delicato is one of the fastest growing U.S. wine suppliers, ranking in the top five across all price segments.” 

Gaspare Indelicato, founder and patriarch of Delicato Vineyards, was a native of Sicily, Italy. He planted several varieties of grapes in 1924 on a 68-acre site near Manteca in California’s San Joaquin County. His partner was his brother-in-law, Sebastiano Luppino. 

In 1935, the two men decided to make their own wine. They Americanized their names – Gaspare became “Jasper” and Sebastiano became “Sam” – and launched the “Sam Jasper Winery” on a shoestring. 

Today, Chris Indelicato, grandson of “Jasper,” is president of the privately held company.