I had often heard Cincinnati, Ohio referred to as America's Rhineland back in the 50's when I was a teenager. My Mom's hometown was Dayton, Ohio, the home of the Wright Brothers and a scant 50 miles from Cincy. I visited them both for the first time in 1954 and have been back several times since then.
For you baseball nuts, I even attended a baseball game in Cincinnati in 1954 at their old stadium, Crosley Field.
I googled America's Rhineland and came up with the following:
FLYING CROWN RACER
German immigrants came to America's Rhineland and built vineyards, wineries to make wine like their home country. The America's Rhineland was a leading producer of fine wines that were world class in the 1800s. These early pioneers created a legacy. The Historic Winery of Flying Crown Racer was built in 1860 and is one of the oldest wineries in America on the National Historic Registry of the United States. The Flying Crown Racer, after 140 years, carries on the tradition of superior wine in America's Rhineland.
Historical records state "...During the last summer a New York wine merchant came to August, after visiting the vineyards in Ohio, and paid for wine raised in the vicinity of Augusta $2.50 per gallon, that being fifty cents over the price of best Ohio wine, There are now several large vineyards in the county, and this year there will be from one to two hundred acres put in vines. The soil of Bracken seems peculiarly adapted to the grapes, and the German wine raisers are peopling different localities rapidly."(Kentucky State Agricultural Society To The Legislature Of Kentucky, For The Years 1856 and 1857, Carefully Prepared By Robert W. Scott, Corresponding Secretary. The best Agriculture makes the greatest State; and the wisest State makes the most of her Agriculture. Frankfort, Kentucky, 1857.)
Today, the Flying Crown Racer vineyard, winery reawakens and offers you the legacy of the America's Rhineland.
Anyone for some Ohio vineyards on the banks of not the Rhine River Valley but the Ohio River Valley? Here is a picture:
Lakey