Fall is upon us once again with the crop finally settling in tanks throughout our lovely wine country.   Yellow and crimson fill the countryside with the chill of winter not far off. It is once again time to give thanks for our families, friends and our beloved wine country as the holiday season is here. Upon further reflection, the next time you are enjoying your favorite glass of wine think about what our forefathers had to overcome in order for us to enjoy this fortunate way of life.   In our latest article we are going to look at an abbreviated history of how the wine country in Northern California progressed into one of the premiere wine growing regions in the world.

 

     In the beginning there were the Native Americans known as the Coastal Miwok, Pomo, and Wappo Tribes that lived and loved what we now recognize as Napa and Sonoma Counties. They were a peaceful people enjoying what Mother Nature had to offer. The valleys were full of plants and animals providing sustenance. Berry bushes grew plentiful along year round rivers, pine nuts and other fare growing in the trees, an over abundance of deer, grizzly bears, elk, panthers, squirrels, along with other animals to eat as well as offer clothing and shelter. It wouldn’t be long before things started to change.

 

     In the late 1760’s Franciscan Monks began to migrate north from Southern California into Sonoma County to establish their missions. In 1823 the first explorer, Pedro Jose Altamira, came to the Napa Valley where he found an estimated three to six thousand Native Americans living.   By 1825 the Franciscans had begun to plant grape vines in Sonoma County to make wine for their congregations. The grapes planted were mainly the Mission varietal known for their less than premium quality. Then in the 1830’s a man by the name of Jean Vignes began to import higher-quality vitis vinifera grapevines.

 

     In the early 1830’s a young pioneer named George Yount came to the Napa Valley where he was a trapper, rancher, miller, and was the grantee of the Rancho Caymus and La Jota. In 1836 George built a blockhouse and in 1837 erected an adobe home for he and his family. It is said that George planted the first grape vines in Napa and that they named Yountville after this man. He died in Yountville in 1865. 

 

     More pioneers and families began to follow the missionaries as small towns began to pop up surrounding the missions and their fortresses. Each small town had its own core consisting of farming animals, vegetables, fruit trees berry bushes and oh yes, wine grapes. As more and more people began to settle into Sonoma and Napa, small business automatically became established out of need and desire.

      By the mid to late 1840’s gold had made its mark and people from around the world had discovered Northern California. Along with the “Get Rich Seekers”, came some entrepreneurs that saw other opportunities. The newly discovered paradise brought many enterprising people to Sonoma Valley including one such Gaston Haraszthy. In the 1850’s through the 1860’s Gaston had analyzed a multitude of grapes and how they would work with different soils determining which combination would offer better quality in different microclimates in various parts of the state. He imported thousands of vines including over 300 different grape varietals. In addition to his plantings in Sonoma County, he began to sell his cuttings in other areas of the state that matched the soils and microclimates unique to those areas. However, most were sold in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.

 

     In June of 1846, Sonoma became a major player in the American take over of California from the Mexican Government. Capitan John Fremont raised the first California Bear Flag that started the “Bear Flag Revolution”. Fremont and his troops took over Sonoma and imprisoned General Vallejo. Sonoma was the beginning of California’s independence from Mexico. In 1850 California was granted statehood at which time Napa and Sonoma became the District of Sonoma, then later that same year becoming two separate counties as we know them today.

 

     Late in the 1870’s a young man named Sam Brannan discovered what the natives had known for generations. The geo-thermal activity in northern Napa Valley near Mount St. Helena provides hot mud and sparkling warm water that bubbles out of the ground. Sam, being an entrepreneur, thought this would be a perfect place to attract tourists who wanted these features for medicinal purposes. Sam built cottages and began promoting his hot springs concept. Sam decided to name his new town the “Saratoga of California”. Sam called a meeting of the local inhabitants to announce the name of his new town whereby after way too much to drink he said, “I have decided to name my new town Calistoga”. Well the rest is history, the name stuck.

     Though Sam may have slurred Calistoga into existence it didn’t stop one famous writer from spelling out the beauty of the northern Napa Valley. In 1880, a young noted author named Robert Lewis Stevenson took a train from Vallejo to Calistoga with his new bride. They took a covered wagon up an old Quick Silver trail called the “Oat Hill Mine Road” to the top of Mount St. Helena where he wrote a book called Silverado Squatters. This writing placed Calistoga on the map as a destination resort town with bubbling hot springs and mud baths to entice the clientele.   

 

A New Wine Industry

     The California wine industry would go through many set backs in the years to come. There were to be many fits and starts such as the Phylloxera infestation of the 1890’s that infested most of the well established vineyards. On the flip side you had such visionaries as a young Italian immigrant named Samuele Sebastiani who came to Sonoma in the early 1900’s with his dream of growing grapes as he did in the old country and established one of Sonoma’s first commercial wineries. There would continue to be numerous setbacks that have been consistently overcome by various wine industry luminaries. 

 

 

 

 Shaken, Not Deterred

     At 5:12 AM on April 18, 1906, San Francisco was awakened by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake. We all know that San Francisco was destroyed, but not everyone knows that this catastrophic event actually provided the impetus for “Wine Country” in Sonoma and Napa as we know it today. Or perhaps we should say it created the wine country tours & tastings as we know it today.

     Prior to the earthquake, all of the wineries were in San Francisco.   San Francisco was the market to make, sell and distribute the wine. Napa and Sonoma were just the farms that grew the grapes. They were harvested, shipped by wagon and rail, then boated across the bay to the wineries and the wine was made, sold and distributed. The earthquake had destroyed all of the wineries, the channels of travel and most of the wine industry had to start over.   The decision was made to move the wineries to where the grapes grow and get away from the pending danger of more earthquakes, thus emergence of wineries in the wine country. Who’d a thunk?

     With the advent of the automobile and modern roads, what was once a long arduous journey became easier and more enjoyable. People from all over began to purchase their country homes in Napa and Sonoma as a vacation get away, as well as a romantic place to relax and enjoy fine food, wine and the beautiful countryside.

     Small Inns and Motels began to pop up along the roadsides. Mom and Pop restaurants started to enter the picture. Napa and Sonoma were on their way to become the predominant grape growing region and wine making capital of America. Thousands of acres of grapes flourished in the valleys, and the wines were becoming recognized all over America as well as other counties, things were good…….

Prohibition Imposition 

     In 1920 prohibition was passed and only a small group of wineries with great political influence such as Christian Brothers, Buena Vista, Sebastiani, Inglenook and very few others were licensed to make “Religious and/or Medicinal” wines. There was the occasional still in the hills, tops of barns, and in basements, but it appeared that the hard liquor and wine industry was over.

      Then in 1933 the prohibition was lifted. By then many of the farmers had torn out most of their grapes and had replanted their fields to apples, walnuts and prunes. Most of the ordinary wines were starting to be made again, only this time in the central valley of California. They were making wine from such grapes as Thompson Seedless, Emperor and Flame Tokay, which were used to make raisins during Prohibition and there was an abundance of these vines available to start the wine industry once again.

     There were still a few brave souls in Napa and Sonoma Valleys that saw the vision and put their sweat and blood into rebuilding this magnificent wine growing region again. Charles Krug was one of them. There was Niebaum Inglenook, Buena Vista, Christian Brothers, Samuel Sebastiani and a few others that knew they had a good thing. It was a slow trip back, but as more and more technology came into play and the farmer and wine maker worked together, more and more emphasis was on quality.

     Times were good in America by the mid 1950’s, the second world war had ended, home building was at its all time high and there were plenty of jobs. War Babies began to populate our schools and the shopping malls became the place to shop.

     Napa and Sonoma counties would take a major turn for the better in the early 1960’s.   With more knowledge about the valley’s and their unique characteristics wine makers embarked on a new quest for excellence. Joe Heitz built his wine cellar in 1964, and Dick Graf established Chalone vineyard in 1965. Robert Mondavi broke away from his family (and their family owned winery, the Krug Winery) in 1966 to become the Icon of the industry, at that time the “Robert Mondovi Winery”.

      By far Robert Mondavi brought Napa Valley and the California wine industry to a whole new level. He had mixed wine tastings with social events and fine food paring. He provided a visitor with an experience to remember, a brilliant adventure rather than just coming to someone’s barn and pouring a glass of wine from the barrel. He began the march toward world class wine coming from our great state. Modavi put Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay on the map in Napa as truly favored varietals and brought the attention to Napa as the sophisticated wine growing region of America.

1974	Landmark Vineyards	1978	Robert Pecota Winery
1974	Mill Creek Vineyards & Winery	1978	Sequoia Grove Vineyards
1975	Alexander Valley Vineyards	1978	Shafer Vineyards
1975	Hop Kiln Winery	1978	William Hill Estate
1975	Lambert Bridge Winery	1978	Rosenblum Cellars
1975	Preston of Dry Creek	1979	Casa Nuestra Winery & Vineyards
1976	Duckhorn Vineyards	1979	Coturri Winery
1976	Seps Estate at Storybook Mountain	1979	Fritz Winery
1976	De Loach Vineyards	1979	Iron Horse Vineyards
1976	Frick Winery	1979	La Crema Winery
1976	Jordan Vineyard & Winery	1979	Michel-Schlumberger Wines
1976	Ravenswood Winery	1979	St. Francis Vineyard & Winery
1976	Robert Stemmler Winery
1977	Grgich Hills Cellar
1977	Keenan Winery
1977	Markham Vineyards
1977	Lake Sonoma Winery
1977	Matanzas Creek Winery
1977	Field Stone Winery
1978	Beaucanon Estate
1978	Pine Ridge Winery