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Day 1 – Thomas Jefferson, A Primer
Day 2 – The First Wine of Record, Claret
Day 3 – Jefferson and Madeira
Day 4 – Jefferson’s Favorite Wines Available Today
Day 5 – Monticello Pictorial
Day 6 – Monticello Vineyards
Day 7 – The Monticello Cellar
Day 8 – Thomas Jefferson—Orchardist and Cidermaker (Part 1)
Day 9 – Quotable Jefferson
Day 10 – The Curious Philip Mazzei
Day 11 – Jefferson Vineyards
Day 12 – What Would Jefferson Think?
Day 13 – Thomas Jefferson—Cidermaker and Scientist-Farmer (Part 2)
Day 14 – Jefferson in Paris – A Pictorial of his Travels
Day 15 – Jefferson in Paris – Pictorial
Day 16 – Jefferson’s Wine Travels Through France and Italy
Day 17 – Jefferson’s Memorandum Notes on Journey Through France and Italy
Day 18 – Monticello Wine Festival
Day 19 – Jefferson in France, Thoughts on Bordeaux
Day 20 – Jefferson’s Paris Wine Cellar
Day 21 – Jefferson in Burgundy – Random Notes
Day 22 – Germany and Champagne, Jefferson’s Route
Day 23 – Jefferson in Champagne
Day 24 – Jefferson, The Wine Consultant

Day 25 – President Jefferson and Wine, How Much Did Jefferson Spend On Wine?

Thomas Jefferson served as President for two terms, from 1801 to 1809. As President, Jefferson’s annual salary was $25,000. According to Hailman’s Jefferson on Wine, Jefferson spent $3,200 per year on wine during his first term, which equates to roughly 13% of his annual salary.

Throughout his eight years as President, Jefferson spent over $16,500 on wine, roughly 9% of his salary over the course of his eight years in office.  (What percentage of your annual income do you spend on wine?)

To put Jefferson’s wine expenditures in to context, I used the Consumer Price Index (CPI) calculator available at Measuring Worth to determine Jefferson’s salary and expenditures in today’s dollars (2009).  Jefferson’s annual salary of $25,000 equates to roughly $435,000 in today’s dollars based on the CPI, which equates to roughly $3,480,000 in total earnings during his eight years as President (in 2009 dollars).  Assuming the CPI calculation is reasonably correct, Jefferson spent the equivalent of roughly $300,000 in today’s dollars on wine during his eight years at President.  That’s a lot of wine – in just eight years – by most any standard!

In tomorrow’s post, I will explore Jefferson’s Presidential wine cellar in more detail…

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Sources:
Thomas Jefferson on Wine, Hailman, John

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