ANN ARBOR—The great American experiment isn’t exclusive to the practice of democratic government.

Over centuries, the toils of the American-grown grape and industrious winemakers revealed a compelling portrait of early patriots, immigrants’ quest to preserve the traditions of their homeland, and the identity of an emerging world power.

“Wine has played an important role in American history since the beginning,” said Daniel Longone, curator of “500 Years of American Grapes and Wines: A Remarkable Journey” at the University of Michigan William Clements Library. Longone is a U-M professor emeritus of chemistry.

“From the Revolution, Americans wanted to show the world this country could make wine, and since then, it’s a story of trial and error, and experimentation,” he said.

The exhibit features books and ephemera that define the history of American wine making from early failures to the rise of the domestic wine industry. The items?culled from the library’s preeminent culinary collection?are especially strong in reflecting the cultural history of the late colonial period, early republic, and 19th-century America.

Longone will present a lecture based on the exhibit at 3 p.m. May 10 at the Clements Library, 909 S. University on Central Campus. Library doors open at 2:30 p.m. for the lecture.

Among the many fascinating anecdotes in the exhibit are stories of Thomas Jefferson’s deep appreciation of wine, letters from Napoleon’s soldiers in which they promise to grow grapes in Alabama, and efforts of those looking to by-pass prohibition restrictions during the 1920s. And the exhibit offers a few surprises, including an explanation of how the cocktail was invented, condescending European views of America’s culinary tastes, and California’s struggles to overcome vineyard infestation to become one of the world’s major wine-producing regions.

According to Longone, the 500-year story of winemaking in America covered in the exhibit is an intriguing and novel approach. The exhibit explores the connection between the evolution of a culture and the culinary and beverage preferences from the time of pilgrims to suburbanites.

“500 Years of American Grapes and Wines: A Remarkable Journey” is sponsored by the William Clements Library and Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor. The exhibit runs through May 29.

Clements Library