Did you know Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States? Okay, you probably knew that, but did you also know that he was a total wine geek? No, really. Here are some fun facts about our fellow wine-lover. 

1. He took a little break (a few months) while serving as a diplomat in France to tour the wine regions. He traveled anonymously and changed horses a few times throughout his journey to keep it that way. 
2. His taste for fine wines didn’t go away during his presidency. While in the White House, he racked up a $10,000 wine bill in his first term alone. That would be around $190,000 today. 
3. Even after his presidency came to an end, he still had a hand in wines at the White House. He served as wine advisor to Presidents Adams, Madison, and Monroe. 
4. Not too surprisingly, he wanted taxes on wine to stay low. He’s quoted saying, “No nation is drunken where wine is cheap; and none sober, where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage.”
5. He experimented for many years to grow his own grapes and make wine. He had two vineyards at Monticello. 

Cheers to Thomas Jefferson; he may have been the third president, but he was one of America’s first wine geeks!