Lucian W. Dressel is an American

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to deter ...

and

viticulturist Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

. Dressel wrote the application to have

Augusta, Missouri Augusta is a city in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 253 at the 2010 census. The city boasts wineries, antique shops, restaurants, B&B's, a wood shop, a glass studio, massage therapy, a historic museum and The Aug ...

, designated as America's first officially recognized wine district by the federal government.

Augusta and Mt. Pleasant

After earning an MBA from Columbia, Dressel initially worked at the family Aro-Dressel Dairy in Granite City, Illinois. He was also teaching at

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

, where after a year he was promoted to be the first Assistant Dean of the Business School. Dressel then moved on to become the first Director of Development for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In 1966, Dressel bought the property of the old Mt. Pleasant Wine Co. in Augusta, Missouri, which was forced to close in 1920 with the advent of

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

. When he obtained his federal wine license he was the youngest person in the country to own a permit to operate a winery. During the 15 years from 1968 to 1993 when the Dressels owned the winery it won 218 gold medals for its wines at national and international competitions, including a gold medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London for Mount Pleasant's 1986 vintage port. During the National League baseball playoffs in 1987 between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants, a competition was set up in San Francisco between Missouri's Mount Pleasant Brut versus

Domaine Chandon Domaine Chandon is a winery located in Napa Valley in the town of Yountville, California, United States. Established in 1973 by Moët et Chandon, businessman, John Wright, was the first French-owned sparkling wine producer in Napa Valley. The R ...

from Napa Valley in Northern California. Five California wine judges were flown in to mediate at the Washington Square Bar & Grill in San Francisco. When the results were tallied Mt. Pleasant won, 56-17 in the blind taste testing. The unexpected victory made national headlines, and one of the judges, wine critic Robert Finigan, praised Mount Pleasant in his national newsletter ''Robert Finigan's Private Guide to Wines.''

Davis, California

Shortly after selling the winery in 1982, Dressel moved to

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...

. With consultation and advice from Dr.

Harold Olmo Harold Olmo (July 31, 1909 – June 30, 2006) was an American viticulturist and professor at the University of California, Davis where he created many new grape varieties known today as Olmo grapes. In the 1950s, he helped to establish Califo ...

, he bred and developed a new family of wine grape vines by crossing

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

and

Zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštel ...

with America's best red wine grape, Norton.

Return to the Midwest

In 2002, Dressel was approached by California investors who wished to create a new winery in Illinois that would grow new wine grapes and make European style wine. He and his son Joseph Dressel were hired to design and build the 100,000 gallon capacity winery and make the wine. From 2003 to 2011, Lucian Dressel served as the General Manager of the winery while Joseph was the Wine Maker. During this time, the winery became the second largest in the state of Illinois and won many awards for quality, most notably being one of only six wines, out of the over 120 entered, to win a Gold Medal at the only National Norton Festival held in 2007.

Music

In 1992, Dressel composed "A Visit from St. Nicholas," a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

using the text of the 1923 poem by the same name. The cantata was first performed by the

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs ...

Orchestra and Chorus. In 2008, Dressel collaborated with Dr. Diane Sol on the musical portions of her new translation of "

ANTIGONE In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & Roma ...

" performed at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dressel, Lucian W. 1940 births American viticulturists Living people People from St. Louis Harvard College alumni Columbia Business School alumni Southern Illinois University Edwardsville faculty American winemakers