Pleasant Valley Wine Company, also known as Great Western Winery, is a historic

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

complex located in the Hamlet of Rheims in the Town of Urbana in

Steuben County, New York Steuben County (stu-BEN) is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 93,584. Its county seat is Bath. Its name is in honor of Baron von Steuben, a Prussian general who fought on the American ...

. The complex consists of nine historic buildings constructed of

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

. The five oldest structures were built in the 1860s and are in the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

style. ''See also:'' It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1980. The winery has the largest plantings of

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

and

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

in New York.

History

Established on March 15, 1860 by Charles Champlin and 12 other investors, the winery is the first bonded winery in the United States; bonded winery #1. The winery produced

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpora ...

and

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany * Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other ...

initially, expanding into

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

production in 1865, earning the Pleasant Valley the nickname "the

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

of America." The on-site

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

used the postmark "Reims, NY" until 1945. During

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 ...

, the winery survived by making

sacramental A sacramental in Christianity is a material object or action (in Latin ''sacramentalia'') ritually blessed by a priest to signal its association with the sacraments and so to incite reverence during acts of worship. They are recognised by the Cat ...

and

medicinal Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

wines. After Repeal, the winery was sold several times, including the Taylor Wine Company in 1961, and inclusion in the sale of Taylor to

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

in 1977. Coke sold the winery to Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1983, which sold the winery to Vintners International in 1987. In 1995, the winery was purchased by the Doyle family.

Gallery

File:Pleasant Valley Wine Company, cover1.jpg, Pleasant Valley Wine Company — company stationary, 1903 File:Pleasant Valley Wine Company, check, June 20, 1875.jpg, Check from the Pleasant Valley Wine Company, June 20, 1875 File:Pleasant Valley Wine Company 2 Apr 11.JPG, Pleasant Valley Wine Company, April 2011 File:New York sparkling wine.jpg, Brickstone Cellars, a second label of Pleasant Valley File:Pleasant Valley Wines 1899.jpg, Views inside the winery, 1899. Great Western Champagne Ad.jpg, Great Western Champagne advertisement (1898)

References

External links

Pleasant Valley Wine Company - Great Western Champagne, Finger Lakes Wine website
{{Authority control Wineries in New York (state) Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places Italianate architecture in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Steuben County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Steuben County, New York Food and drink companies established in 1860 American companies established in 1860