St. George • If the wineries that have cropped up recently in southwestern Utah have a familiar ring, it is because they echo the region’s pioneer past when vineyards and grape growing were ubiquitous and wine fueled profits.

The Dixie Wine Mission was created in 1861 when pioneer-prophet Brigham Young sent 30 Swiss families skilled at winemaking to the region. It supplied the then-Utah Territory with sacrament wine while growers sold the rest to non-Latter-day Saints to buy goods they were unable to produce themselves.

Where other ventures in the area failed, the grape-growing business took off. By 1870, there were about a half-dozen outfits in St. George producing up to 2,500 gallons per year, according to “Dixie Wine,” a thesis Dennis R. Lancaster published in 1972.

The death knell

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