Draft:Jim Held
| Submission declined on 9 December 2025 by JSFarman (talk). This submission's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article—that is, they do not show significant coverage (not just passing mentions) about the subject in published, reliable, secondary sources that are independent of the subject (see the guidelines on the notability of people). Before any resubmission, additional references meeting these criteria should be added (see technical help and learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue). If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
|  |
| Submission declined on 8 June 2023 by JML1148 (talk). This submission appears to read more like an advertisement than an entry in an encyclopedia. Encyclopedia articles need to be written from a neutral point of view, and should refer to a range of independent, reliable, published sources, not just to materials produced by the creator of the subject being discussed. This is important so that the article can meet Wikipedia's verifiability policy and the notability of the subject can be established. If you still feel that this subject is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia, please rewrite your submission to comply with these policies. Declined by JML1148 2 years ago. | |
Comment: References need to provide extensive coverage specifically about Jim Held, rather than Hermann or Stone Hill Winery, via reliable, independent sources. Can you find more sources focused on Held? JSFarman (talk) 19:41, 9 December 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: Hey, MinorRiverDeity! Can you fill in the citations I've marked as needed? Alternatively you can remove that information from the article. Valereee (talk) 13:26, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: Although this person is now dead, the article has a very positive tone that does not fit an encyclopaedic article. JML1148 (talk | contribs) 10:44, 8 June 2023 (UTC)
Leon James "Jim" Held (1933–2019) was an American vintner and businessman who played a central role in the post-Prohibition revival of winemaking in the Midwest and Eastern United States. Along with his wife Betty, he co-founded Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, Missouri, in 1965, becoming the first commercial vintners in the state’s modern era and helping to reestablish a regional wine industry after a 45-year hiatus.
Early years
[edit]Held was born in Pershing, Missouri, and served in the United States Navy as an engineer. After his military service, he and his wife farmed in Osage County within the Missouri Rhineland, raising livestock and maintaining a 4.5-acre vineyard of Catawba grapes. In 1965, the couple purchased and rehabilitated the historic Stone Hill Winery, which reestablished Missouri's wine industry after Prohibition.[1] That same year, they discovered what was believed to be the last surviving Norton grapevines, a historically important Pre-Prohibition American wine grape on a local homestead, and returned the variety to commercial production.[2]
Stone Hill Winery and industry development
[edit]The Hermann region had been a major center of American winemaking in the nineteenth century, with Stone Hill Winery originally established in 1847. By the late 1800s, the winery was the second-largest in the United States and exported wine globally, where it earned medals at international exhibitions in Vienna, Philadelphia, and Paris.[3] Missouri’s wine industry collapsed following Prohibition in 1920, and the state’s vineyards were forcibly removed. When Held reopened Stone Hill Winery in 1965, it marked the first large-scale commercial wine production in Missouri since the repeal of Prohibition, reviving a historic winemaking tradition that had been dormant for more than four decades.[4]
During the late 1960s and 1970s, Stone Hill Winery became one of the largest wine producers in the Midwest and a model for other Midwestern operations. At the time, state law limited wineries to 5,000 gallons of annual production. Held worked with legislators to raise those limits, first to 75,000 gallons in 1968 and later to 500,000 gallons in 1980.[5] By that point Stone Hill had become the state’s largest winery and grape grower.[5]
In 1979 Held hired winemaker Dave Johnson, and together along with Held's children, they made improvements in native and hybrid grape wine production. Under their direction, Stone Hill received numerous awards at national and international competitions and helped demonstrate the commercial potential of grapes such as Norton and Vidal Blanc. In 1993, noted wine writer Gerald Asher would say that their Norton "might yet do for Missouri what Cabernet Sauvignon has done for California."[6]
Held also led the effort to create the Hermann American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1983[7], one of the first federally recognized AVA's.[8] The designation helped formalize regional identity and inspired similar efforts throughout the central and eastern United States.[9]
Recognitions and later life
[edit]In 1982, Held was named Missouri Small Business Person of the Year and recognized by President Ronald Reagan during a White House ceremony. He and Betty Held were the first inductees into the Missouri Tourism Hall of Fame in 1988 and named the Wine Growing Family of the Year by the Wineries Unlimited Conference in 1995.[5] In 2014, the University of Missouri bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of Laws to Held for revitalizing Missouri's wine industry.[10]
Held retired from Stone Hill Winery in 2011, and operations passed to his son Jonathan Held and the third generation of the family. Held died in 2019 at the age of 86.[5]
Legacy
[edit]Held’s work is widely recognized as laying the foundation for the modern wine industry in Missouri and the broader Midwest.[4] Through his advocacy for native and hybrid grape varieties, leadership in expanding state production limits, and early adoption of professional winemaking standards, he helped transform the region into a sustainable wine-growing area within the national industry.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Garr, Robin (1989-09-20). "Oompah Time in Hermann, Mo". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ "Norton: The History of Missouri's Most Famous Wine". Visit Missouri. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ Stone Hill Wine Company, Hermann, Missouri, Records Archived 2019-07-05 at the Wayback Machine, 1896-1919, shsmo.org
- ^ a b Lukacs, Paul (2005). The great wines of America: the top forty vintners, vineyards, and vintages (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05138-4.
- ^ a b c d "Missouri Wine Pioneer Jim Held Dies". winebusiness.com. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ Asher, Gerald (April 1993). "Missouri's Wine Industry". Gourmet Magazine.
- ^ "Hermann AVA Petition to the ATF" (PDF). TTB.gov. July 22, 1982. Retrieved December 8, 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Hermann AVA". National Archives: Code of Federal Regulation.
- ^ Graveman, Dianna, ed. (2010). Hermann. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub. ISBN 978-0-7385-8403-4.
- ^ "University of Missouri Honorary Degrees | University of Missouri System". www.umsystem.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ Kliman, Todd (2010). The wild vine: a forgotten grape and the untold story of American wine (1st ed.). New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers. ISBN 978-0-307-40936-2.