Sebastian Rentz (January 20, 1799 – June 4, 1866) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unit ...

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to det ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. Rentz was known for producing

sparkling Sparkling may refer to: Beverages * Sparkling apple cider * Sparkling water * Sparkling wine Biology * Sparkling enope squid, a squid species * Sparkling gourami, a fish species * Sparkling violetear, a hummingbird species See also

* Spark ( ...

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...

wine from grapes grown in his

Ohio River Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

vineyard. He is also known for developing his own grape cultivar, the

Rentz Seedling Grape Rentz is a city in Laurens County, Georgia, United States. The population was 295 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dublin Micropolitan Statistical Area. History The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Rentz as a town in 1905. The commun ...

. Rentz was a contemporary winemaker of

Nicholas Longworth Nicholas Longworth III (November 5, 1869 – April 9, 1931) was an American politician who became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a Republican. A lawyer by training, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he init ...

Personal life

Sebastian Rentz was born on January 20, 1799, in

Bad Saulgau Bad Saulgau is a town in the district of Sigmaringen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 23 km east of Sigmaringen, and 27 km north of Ravensburg between the Danube and Lake Constance. Geography Bad Saulgau is located ...

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...

. In his early life, he was a servant for a wealthy family and in 1825, he travelled with the family to the United States and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He married Cecelia Zoller in 1828. In Cincinnati, he first worked as a baker, before becoming a winemaker. Rentz had 11 children, six of whom survived him. In 1840, he built a 17-room house on Foley Road. A portrait of the house was later made by landscape painter

Robert S. Duncanson Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821 – December 21, 1872) was a 19th-century American landscapist of European and African ancestry. Inspired by famous American landscape artists like Thomas Cole, Duncanson created renowned landscape paintings and is ...

. Rentz was a founding member of

Our Lady of Victory (Cincinnati) Our Lady of Victory (OLV) is a Catholic parish in Cincinnati, Ohio. Victory is a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is the third oldest parish in Hamilton County, Ohio, established in 1842 as a log cabin. OLV was originally ...

(then called St. Stephen's) parish in 1842. He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 4, 1866, and was buried at

Old St. Joseph's Cemetery The Old St. Joseph's Cemetery is located at West Eight Street & Enright Avenue in the Price Hill, Cincinnati, Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cemetery was founded at West Eight Street & Enright Avenue, in 1843 by Rev. John Baptist ...

. At the time of his death, he owned more than 100 acres in Delhi Township and his estate was valued at $250,000.

Winemaking

In 1836, he purchased 40 acres of land in Delhi Township and started growing Catawba grapes and producing sparkling wine from them. By 1846, Rentz was the largest wine producer in

Hamilton County, Ohio Hamilton County is located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 830,639, making it the third-most populous county in Ohio. The county seat and largest city is Cincinnati. The county ...

and produced a record 1,260 gallons of wine per acre. His wines won several awards including first place at the

New York State Fair The New York State Fair, also known as the Great New York State Fair, is a 13-day showcase of agriculture, entertainment, education, and technology. With midway rides, concessionaires, exhibits, and concerts, it has become New York's largest a ...

in 1851 and the

Longworth Longworth is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, England. The 1974 boundary changes transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire. The village lies between Faringdon, to its west, and Oxford, to the north-east. The 2011 Ce ...

cup in 1856. In addition to growing Catawba grapes, Rentz developed his own grape cultivar, which became known as the

and was grown throughout the Ohio River Valley region. He also made improvements to the wine press that increased wine production efficiency.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rentz, Sebastian German viticulturists American horticulturists 1799 births 1866 deaths