Jefferson's Fruitless Vines

Thomas Jefferson spent over thirty years trying to cultivate European wine grapes at Monticello. Beginning in 1773, he imported the finest Vitis vinifera cuttings from France and Italy — Sangiovese, Muscat, Nebbiolo. He terraced the southeastern slope of his mountain estate, amending the red Virginia clay with careful attention. He hired Philip Mazzei, a Tuscan viticulturist, to oversee the planting. He built stone walls to shelter the tender vines from frost. He personally selected each rootstock, each row, each trellis post.

And every season, the vineyard failed. The vines produced only bitter, worthless fruit — or nothing at all. Phylloxera and black rot devoured what the humid summers did not ruin. Jefferson poured a lifetime of intelligence, wealth, and devotion into that hillside, yet never once tasted wine from his own grapes.

The prophet Isaiah tells of another Vineyard Owner who dug, cleared stones, planted the choicest vines, and built a watchtower in the middle of His beloved plot. The Almighty held nothing back from Israel. He gave law, prophets, deliverance, land, and His own covenant presence. Yet when He looked for the fruit of justice, He found only bloodshed. When He listened for righteousness, He heard only cries of oppression.

Unlike Jefferson, God knew exactly why His vineyard bore wild grapes. The soil was not the problem. The Gardener was not the problem. The vines themselves had chosen bitterness over sweetness.