California wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% (by some estimates) of American wine is produced in the state. California would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world if it were an independent nation.
Vineyards during Spanish colonization Although conflicting accounts exist, the first recorded planting of a vineyard was probably by the Spanish Jesuit Missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino at Misión San Bruno in Baja California in 1683 implanting the first variety named "Misionéro". In 1779, Franciscan missionaries under the direction of the Spanish Father Junípero Serra planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Journals kept at San Juan Capistrano show that between May 1779 and 1781, the padres supervised six campesinos from Baja California in planting 2,000 grapevines at the mission. The first winery in Alta California was built in San Juan Capistrano in 1783; both red and white wines (sweet and dry), brandy, and a port-like fortified wine called Angelica were all produced from the Mission grape. Father Serra founded eight other California missions. Hence, he has been called the "Father of California Wine". The variety he planted, presumably descended from Spain, became known as the Mission grape and dominated California wine production until about 1880.
Early wine industry In 1829, 17 acres of Mission Grape vines were planted in Pueblo de Los Angeles by Ysidro Reyes, (grandson of Juan Francisco Reyes the 3rd & 5th Alcade de Pueblo). Ysidro Reyes had been born at Mission San Gabriel where he had learned to cultivate and ferment this hardy grape. All of the Missions raised this grape for sacramental wine, but the residents of the Pueblo developed a taste for drinking wine. The fermentation process consisted of placing the grapes into a cowhide hung loosely from four trees or posts. A popular drink was the fortified wine known as Angelica. It is unknown if Reyes was the first commercial winemaker in Los Angeles, but he appears to have supported his family solely from his role in producing wine. In 1831, Reyes had the good fortune of becoming the neighbor of newly arrived French cooper and distiller Jean- Louis Vignes who would serve as a mentor to young Reyes.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles in 1831, Jean Louis Vignes had bought and cultivated 104 acres of land located between the original Pueblo and the banks of the Los Angeles River. He named his property El Aliso after the centuries-old white alder tree found near the entrance. He planted a vineyard and started preparing to make wine. Vignes's early experiments, while waiting for his own vines to mature, were with his neighbor Ysidro Reyes' newly producing vineyards. During the three years that it took for Vignes' vines to begin producing grapes, the two men worked well together and became friends with Vignes serving as a mentor to Reyes in improving the quality of the wine. The Mission grape grew well and yielded large quantities of wine, but Vignes was not satisfied with the results even after attempting to discern if aging it would improve the taste. The common practice at the time was to drink the wine as soon as it was fermented unless it were to be made into Angelica, a fortified wine distilled similarly to Port. Vignes decided it was necessary to import better vines from Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon blanc.Idwall, Jones. Vines in the Sun: A Journey Through the California Vineyards. William Morrow and Co. New York, 1949. Page 212 The vines transited around Cape Horn. To preserve their roots during the long trip, they were inserted in moss and potato slices. Vignes became the first Californio who grew quality vines, and the first who aged his wines. By the time Ysidro Reyes left Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1839 to plant the vineyard of his newly awarded Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, he had become a skilled vintner, with an excellent source for aging barrels and a wagon load of grafts from Vignes' European Bordeaux grapes that would flourish in the fertile Santa Monica Canyon. The exact date of Vignes first vintage from the European vines is unknown. However, it was may have been 1837, because in 1857 he ran an advertisement claiming that some of his wines were 20 years old.Newmark, Harris, Sixty Years in Southern California 1853-1913. Fourth Edition. Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles 1984. Page 200 The wood for the barrels came from land Vignes owned in the San Bernardino Mountains.Foucrier, Annick. Op. Cit. Page 62 Thus in the early 1800s California commercial viticulture was mostly based in Southern California. While Jean-Louis Vignes is recognized as California's first documented importer of European wine vines, planted on his land in Los Angeles in 1833, he was quickly followed by William Wolfskill, another major early wine maker in California, who purchased his first vineyard in 1838 in the Los Angeles area. By 1858 he owned 55,000 vines across 145 acres. Vignes and Wolfskill were the two major figures in California wine making in the 1830s and 1840s. Their success attracted others and increased interest in wine cultivation in Southern California.
In 1840, Jean-Louis Vignes made the first recorded shipment of California wine. The Los Angeles market was too small for his production, and he loaded a shipment on the Monsoon, bound for Northern California.Foucrier, Annick. Op. Cit. Page 53 By 1842, he made regular shipments to Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco. By 1849, El Aliso, was the most extensive vineyard in California. Vignes owned over 40,000 vines and produced 150,000 bottles, or 1000 barrels, per year.McGroarty, John Steven. History of Los Angeles County. The American Historical Society. Chicago and New York 1923. Page 31 As a prominent citizen of Los Angeles, Jean-Louis Vignes met and entertained such well known men as General William Tecumseh Sherman, Thomas Larkin, William Heath Davis and Thomas ap Catesby Jones. His wine was drunk all over California and samples were sent to President Tyler in Washington, D.C.Davis, William Heath. Seventy Five Years in California. John Howell. San Francisco. 1929. Page 120 and to France.
Wine industry during California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) had a major effect on the geography, economy, and history of wine growing in California. The discovery of gold in 1848 at Sutter's Mill triggered the wine industry of California. The Gold Rush brought an influx of people to Northern California, many of whom arrived and settled in San Francisco whose population grew from 1,000 to 25,000 between January 1848 and December 1849. This resulted in a significant increase in demand for wine and spurred wine production in the area within of San Francisco. In the early 1850, local wineries mainly supplied gold miners. The 1850s saw planting and wine production expand in earnest in many parts of Northern California, including in Santa Clara, Sacramento, Sutter, Yuba, Butte, Trinity, El Dorado, Lake, Napa, Sonoma and Merced Counties. Many of these are still major centers of wine cultivation and production.
Established in 1852, Old Almaden Winery in Santa Clara Valley was the oldest winery in California and the site is designated as a California Historical Landmark designated July 31, 1953. The historic wine production site in Santa Clara County was situated on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains where today resides winemakers and growers of the Santa Clara Valley AVA. On this site, in 1852, Charles LeFranc made the first commercial planting of fine European wine grapes in Santa Clara County to found Almaden Vineyards. The winery is no longer in operation and the Almaden Vineyards company moved to Madera, California. In 1878, pioneering winemaker Paul Masson left France for California, and ended up becoming winemaker at Almaden Vineyards and Wine company, leading to his other pioneering wine and champagne vintner pursuits in the Santa Clara Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains.
In the 1850s and 1860s, Agoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian soldier, merchant and promoter, made several trips to import cuttings from 165 of the greatest European vineyards to California. Some of this endeavor was at his personal expense and some through grants from the state. Considered one of the founders of the California wine industry, Haraszthy contributed his enthusiasm and optimism for the future of wine, along with considerable personal effort and risk. He founded Buena Vista Winery and promoted vine planting over much of Northern California. He dug extensive caves for cellaring, promoted hillside planting, fostered the idea of non-irrigated vineyards and suggested redwood for casks when oak supplies ran low.
Nurseymen like A.P. Smith in Sacramento imported grape varieties and experimented to find which were best suited for the California climate. Smith listed 24 grape varieties he was propagating in a sales catalog in 1856 and he exhibited "Zeinfindall" at the state fair in 1858.
As home to both Buena Vista Winery, California's second-oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery, the Sonoma Valley is known as the birthplace of the California wine industry.
Universalist minister Thomas Lake Harris also established his utopian commune of Fountain Grove in Sonoma County, just north of Santa Rosa with of grapes in 1875. The vineyard was managed by Japanese immigrant, Nagasawa Kanaye, whom Harris left the estate to in 1891, and growing the vineyard to , producing of Cabernet, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel per year. Known as the "Grape King of California", Nagasawa was one of the biggest winemakers in the state, frequently hosting notable figures such as John Muir, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and others to lavish dinners through Prohibition where Fountaingrove's cellars continued to flow freely. Nagasawa remained at Fountaingrove until his death at 1934, where despite naming his American born grand-nephew and grand-niece as heirs, the state seized the land, broke it up, and sold it at auction under the California Alien Land Law of 1913, which prohibited Asian immigrants from owning agricultural land due to rising anti-Asian sentiment at the time.
Although George Yount planted a small vineyard in Napa Valley in the mid-1830s, John Patchett planted the first commercial vineyard in Napa Valley in 1854 and established the first winery there in 1858. In 1861 Charles Krug who previously had worked for Agoston Haraszthy and Patchett founded his namesake winery in St. Helena and began making his own wine. Originally a Prussian political dissident, Krug learned the trade of the vintner as an apprentice to Haraszthy in the Sonoma Valley. The land on which Krug founded his winery was part of his wife's (Carolina Bale's) dowry. Krug became an important leader of winemaking in the Napa Valley. He was also a mentor for Karl Wente, Charles Wetmore and Jacob Beringer, all of whom became important vintners.
In 1863, species of native American grapes were taken to Botanical Gardens in England. These cuttings carried a species of root louse called phylloxera which attacks and feeds on the vine roots and leaves. Phylloxera is indigenous to North America and native vine varieties had developed resistance. European vines had no such evolutionary protection. By 1865, phylloxera had spread to vines in Provence. Over the next 20 years, it inhabited and decimated nearly all the vineyards of Europe. Many methods were attempted to eradicate phylloxera but all proved temporary and none economical.