Toasting the Revolution: Madeira in Early America

In Revolutionary Charleston, Madeira flowed more freely than any other wine. The drink of choice for merchants, planters, and patriots alike, it filled cellars and attics across the Lowcountry, and Drayton Hall was no exception. The Draytons ordered it by the pipe (yes, a pipe; we’ll explain).

Join us for a tasting and lecture exploring Madeira’s role in the Revolutionary era as a currency of hospitality, a political symbol, and the wine of celebration and ceremony. What did it mean to toast the Revolution in a wine that arrived by ship from a Portuguese island? Who was pouring, who was serving, and what did the glasses look like?

Through artifacts recovered from Drayton Hall and the stories behind them, we’ll trace and taste how this beloved wine moved through the rituals of entertaining and toasting that defined a world on the brink of change.

Tastings included. Space is limited.

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