Paul Garrett: Dean of American Winemakers

Paul Garrett, dean of American winemakers in the first two decades of the twentieth century, became a millionaire making and selling wine, particularly his Virginias Dare label. Garrett established his first winery in North Carolina in 1900. By 1903, he owned vineyards and facilities in the Finger Lakes Region as well as Mission Vineyards and Winery in Cucamonga, California. He added wineries in Missouri, Ohio and Virginia. By 1919, he owned seventeen processing plants with a capacity of ten million gallons. He had to add other products during the Great Depression; however, when Prohibition was repealed, he was the only vintner capable of selling wine in every Wet State.