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  Mary Michelle’s winemaker is Lucian Dressel, a fifth generation Greene County resident by way of Boston, New York, Augusta, Mo., and Davis, Ca. Dressel planted his first vineyard in 1959 and became a licensed winemaker in 1968. He has won gold medals for wine in all the major national contests as well as a gold medal for Port awarded at the British House of Commons. Dressel made America’s first Ice Wine in 1976. He applied for, and received, recognition for Augusta, Missouri as America’s first official Appellation of Origin in 1980. He has made wine commercially from all of the major Vinifera grape varieties, dozens of French Hybrids as well as the native Labrusca varieties. In the late 1990s Dressel moved to Davis, California and began breeding experimental wine varieties to improve the quality of eastern wines. Many of these are now being grown by Mary Michelle. In 2003, inspired by the vision of the founders of Mary Michelle, Dressel returned to the Midwest to help make a contribution to the fulfillment of this dream. |
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