First Vineyard, Lexington, Kentucky: The first commercial winery in the U.S.

This article originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register on September 4, 2015. While California may be the main location for vineyards today, the first commercial wineries in the United States were not on the west coast. Of course, then you might think that the first vineyards and wineries were in Virginia or one of the other original colonies. But, on a recent visit to Lexington, Kentucky, I visited First Vineyard, which is said to be the first commercial winery in the United States. In 1994, Lexington metro officer and builder Tom Beall found some land with the idea of building a small A-frame house for a weekend getaway. He began buying parcels in the area and in 2002 discovered that the property was the actual site of a commercial vineyard. While redeveloping the property, in order to plant vines as was done 200 years ago, Beall, a history buff, starting doing research about the land.