From Vineyards to Verses: Longfellow’s Ode to Cincinnati Wine

There’s something timeless about pairing wine and poetry, especially around Valentine’s Day. Few American poets capture this spirit quite like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most celebrated literary figures of the 19th century. His most famous works include Paul Revere’s Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. Longfellow’s poetry combined romanticism with moral reflection and a deep pride in American culture.

By the 1830s and 1840s, Longfellow had already gained national fame and traveled to Cincinnati for lectures and social visits. At the same time, Cincinnati was a thriving cultural hub, home to Nicholas Longworth, a prominent banker, lawyer, and socialite renowned as the “Father of American Wine.” In the early 19th century, Longworth planted vineyards along the Ohio River and pioneered the cultivation of the Catawba grape, America’s first widely recognized wine grape. His work helped establish Cincinnati as a center of viticulture in the United States during the 1820s - 1850s.

Longworth was also a patron of the arts and letters, connected to intellectuals, writers, and politicians. When he gifted Longfellow a case of his sparkling Catawba wine, it was more than a gift of drink - it was a gesture of cultural exchange. American intellectuals celebrated one another’s work, and Longworth saw his wine as a symbol of American ingenuity. Longfellow responded in kind, composing the poem Catawba Wine, which honors not only the wine itself but the uniqueness of American enterprise and natural bounty.

A photo of Longworth’s terraced vineyards in Mt. Adams

Catawba Wine by Nicholas Wadsworth Longfellow 

Written on the receipt of a gift of Catawba wine from the vineyards of Nicholas Longworth on the Ohio River 

 This song of mine

    Is a Song of the Vine,

To be sung by the glowing embers

    Of wayside inns,

    When the rain begins

To darken the drear Novembers. 

    It is not a song

    Of the Scuppernong,

From warm Carolinian valleys,

    Nor the Isabel

    And the Muscadel

That bask in our garden alleys. 

    Nor the red Mustang,

    Whose clusters hang

O'er the waves of the Colorado,

    And the fiery flood

    Of whose purple blood

Has a dash of Spanish bravado. 

    For richest and best

    Is the wine of the West,

That grows by the Beautiful River;

    Whose sweet perfume

    Fills all the room

With a benison on the giver. 

    And as hollow trees

    Are the haunts of bees,

Forever going and coming;

    So this crystal hive

    Is all alive

With a swarming and buzzing and humming. 

    Very good in its way

    Is the Verzenay,

Or the Sillery soft and creamy;

    But Catawba wine

    Has a taste more divine,

More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy. 

    There grows no vine

    By the haunted Rhine,

By Danube or Guadalquivir,

    Nor on island or cape,

    That bears such a grape

As grows by the Beautiful River. 

    Drugged is their juice

    For foreign use,

When shipped o'er the reeling Atlantic,

    To rack our brains

    With the fever pains,

That have driven the Old World frantic. 

    To the sewers and sinks

    With all such drinks,

And after them tumble the mixer;

    For a poison malign

    Is such Borgia wine,

Or at best but a Devil's Elixir. 

    While pure as a spring

    Is the wine I sing,

And to praise it, one needs but name it;

    For Catawba wine

    Has need of no sign,

No tavern-bush to proclaim it. 

    And this Song of the Vine,

    This greeting of mine,

The winds and the birds shall deliver

    To the Queen of the West,

    In her garlands dressed,

On the banks of the Beautiful River.

An advertisement for Nicholas Longworth's Catawba wines

Longfellow celebrates the Catawba wine of Ohio, praising it above all other wines. This poem shows both admiration for the craftsmanship of Longworth and national pride, framing the Ohio River valley as a place of beauty and creativity - an American counterpart to Europe’s historic vineyards.

This Valentine’s Day, raise a glass to Cincinnati’s rich wine history at Japp’s. While Catawba wine may be a thing of the past, we’ve got something for every palate - whether you prefer a crisp Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, a bold Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir, a refreshing rosé, or a sparkling Prosecco. Celebrate love, history, and great wine all in one sip!