California Wine

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, it is California where the great majority (up to 90% by some estimates) is produced. California would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world if it were an independent nation.

André Tchelistcheff is generally credited with ushering in the modern era of winemaking in California. Beaulieu Vineyards (BV) founder and owner Georges de Latour hired Tchelisticheff in 1938. He introduced several new techniques and procedures, such as aging wine in small French Oak barrels, cold fermentation, vineyard frost prevention, and malolactic fermentation.

Brother Timothy; a member of Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was also very instrumental in the creation of the modern wine industry. After an earlier career as a teacher, he transferred to the order's Mont La Salle located on Mount Veeder in the Mayacamas Mountains west of Napa in 1935 to become the wine chemist for the order's expanding wine operations. The Christian Brothers had grown grapes and made sacramental wine in Benicia, California during Prohibition, but decided to branch out into commercial production of wine and brandy following the repeal of Prohibition. The science teacher was a fast learner and soon established Christian Brothers as one of the leading brands in the state's budding wine industry; Brother Timothy's smiling face in advertisements and promotional materials became one of the most familiar images for wine consumers across the country.

In 1965, Napa Valley icon Robert Mondavi broke away from his family's Charles Krug estate to found his own in Oakville, California. It was the first new large-scale winery to be established in the valley since before prohibition. Following the establishment of the Mondavi estate, the number of wineries in the valley continued to grow, as did the region's reputation.

Some California wine makers began to produce quality wines but still had difficulty marketing them. Frank Schoonmaker, a prominent journalist and wine writer of the 1950s and 1960s introduced the idea of labeling wines using varietal (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling) rather than generic names borrowed from famous European regions (Burgundy, Chablis, Rhine, etc.). Robert Mondavi was one of the first to label the majority of his wines by varietal names and was tireless in promoting the practice.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the quality of some vintners' wines was outstanding but few took notice. On May 24, 1976, a blind tasting was held in Paris with a panel made up exclusively of French wine experts. After comparing six California Chardonnays with four French Chardonnays, three of the top four were Californian. All nine judges ranked Chateau Montelena the highest; Chalone Vineyard came in third and Spring Mountain Vineyard fourth. When reds were evaluated, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was ranked number one. This competition focused a great deal of attention on wines from the Napa Valley.

The red wines evaluated in 1976 were retasted in two separate blind tastings (the French Culinary Institute Wine Tasting of 1986 and the Wine Spectator Wine Tasting of 1986) and also in the The Wine Rematch of the Century. In all retastings, a California red was chosen first, while the French wines lost positions in the rankings.

In Oz Clarke's New encyclopedia of Wine, Mr. Clarke writes that California "was the catalyst and then the locomotive for change that finally prised open the ancient European wineland's rigid grip on the hierarchy of quality wine and led the way in proving that there are hundreds if not thousands of places around the world where good to great wine can be made." He observes that "until the exploits of California's modern pioneers of the 1960s and '70's, no-one had ever before challenged the right of Europe's, and in particular, France's vineyards, to be regarded as the only source of great wine in the world."

Fred Franzia and his Bronco Wine Company has caused recent waves in the business of California wine marketing. The company's low priced Charles Shaw wine which is sold exclusively by Trader Joe's markets along with the company's other labels have attracted new entry level wine consumers to the fold but also has alienated many of the smaller vintners in the state by placing some downward pressure on pricing.

Newer regions, producing award-winning wines, have entered the California wine industry, including Temecula Valley wine country in the south, the Santa Ynez valley in the central coast, and in the Red Hills Lake County in the north.

Backed by continuing research, California vintners continue to innovate in attempts to further enhance the quality and competitiveness of their products. The story of California wine continues to evolve.

In 1769, Franciscan missionary Father Junípero Serra planted the first California vineyard at Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Father Serra continued to establish eight more missions and vineyards until his death in 1784 and has been called the "Father of California Wine". The variety he planted, presumably descended from earlier Mexican plantings, became known as the Mission grape and dominated California wine production until about 1880.

California's first documented imported European wine vines were planted in Los Angeles in 1833 by Jean-Louis Vignes. 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.

As home to both Buena Vista winery, California's 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.

In 1861 Charles Krug established Napa Valley's first commercial winery in St. Helena.

Californian Burgundy, 1906 poster from the London wine merchants showing a bottle on Glacier Point, YosemiteIn 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.

Finally Thomas Munson, a horticulturist in Texas, suggested grafting the European vinifera vines onto American riparia rootsocks. So, there began a long, laborious process of grafting every wine vine in Europe over to American rootstocks. It was only in this manner that the European wine industry could be retrieved from extinction.

In 1879 Captain Gustave Niebaum established Inglenook Winery in Rutherford, California a small village (in Napa County, California). It was the first Bordeaux style winery in the USA. Captain Niebaum's wines became world renowned. His Inglenook wines won gold medals at the World's Fair of Paris in 1889.

During the period when the Europeans were contending with phylloxera, the American wine industry was ironically flourishing. By 1900, America had a fully developed and proud commercial wine producing business. Many California wines received medals in European competitions. Barrels of California wine were being regularly exported to Australia, Canada, Central America, England, Germany, Mexico and the Orient.

Napa Valley is widely considered one of the top AVAs in California, and all of the United States with a history dating back to the early nineteenth century. By the end of the nineteenth century there were more than one hundred and forty wineries in the area. Of those original wineries several still exist in the valley today including Charles Krug Winery, Shramsburg, Chateau Montelena and Beringer. Viticulture in Napa suffered a setback when prohibition was enacted across the country in 1920. Furthering the damage was an infestation of the phylloxera root louse which killed many of the vines through the valley. These two events caused many wineries to shut down and stalled the growth of the wine industry in Napa County for years. Following the Second World War, the wine industry in Napa began to thrive again.

In 1965, Napa Valley icon Robert Mondavi broke away from his family's Charles Krug estate to found his own. This was the first new large scale winery to be established in the valley since before prohibition. Following the establishment of the Mondavi estate, the number of wineries in the valley continued to grow, as did the region's reputation.

In addition to large scale wineries, Napa Valley's boutique wineries produce some of the world's best wines. The producers of these wines include but are not limited to: Araujo, Bryant Family, Colgin Cellars, Dalla Valle Maya, Diamond Creek, Dominus, Dunn Howell Mountain, Grace Family, Harlan, Husic, Kistler, Jericho Canyon Vineyards, Marcassin, Screaming Eagle, Shafer Hillside Select, Sine Qua Non, Spencer-Roloson Winery and Vineyard 29.

Today Napa Valley features more than two hundred wineries and grows many different grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel, and other popular varietals. Napa Valley is visited by as many as five million people each year, making it the second most popular tourist destination in California, second only to Disneyland.

In 1976, the region got a boost from the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, which featured a Napa Valley Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon besting several famous French labels in a blind tasting format. The results of this tasting cemented the region's reputation of its ability to produce world class wines.

A modern outbreak of phylloxera was discovered in the valley in 1983 in a vineyard planted with AxR1 rootstock. Many growers seized upon this outbreak and used it as an opportunity to switch to varieties that were better suited to the climate and soil. By the late 1990s nearly 75% of the affected vineyards had been replanted with phylloxera resistant rootstock. The growers in the region are currently channeling their energy to battle the Glassy-winged sharpshooter, a non-native pest that carries Pierce's Disease.

Today Napa Valley features more than 340 wineries that grow many grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zinfandel, and other popular varietals. While some winemakers produce wines from specific AVAs within the valley, the majority choose to blend or cuvée their wines using a mixture of wine from grapes grown on the valley floor and the surrounding hillsides.

Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of the California wine industry and often called The Valley of the Moon. Sonoma Valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards and wineries in the state, some of which survived the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the impact of Prohibition. Its wineries are generally well prepared for receiving tourists, and Sonoma Valley offers a wide range of year round festivals and events, including the prestigious Sonoma Valley Film Festival. Today, this small valley's wines are protected by the US federal government's Sonoma Valley and Carneros AVAs (or American Viticultural Areas).

The phrase Valley of the Moon was first recorded in an 1850 report by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo to the California Legislature.

According to Jack London, the Native American word Sonoma means Valley of the Moon. Actually there are several other possible translations for Sonoma (see Sonoma County, California). According to the Miwok tribes that lived in the valley, and the Pomo, it meant "valley of the moon" or "many moons". White settlers may have accidentally translated the words "many moons" into "valley of moons". Miwok legends say that the moon seemingly rose from this valley, or was "nestled" in the valley, or may have even sprung up multiple times in one night.

Purchase California Wine

Gary Farrell 2004 Cresta Ridge Vineyard Chardonnay - White Wine

Estancia 2003 Merlot - Red Wine

Dry Creek Vineyard 2005 Chardonnay - White Wine

Byron 2004 Nielson Vineyard Pinot Noir - Red Wine

Edmeades 2006 Mendocino Zinfandel - Red Wine

Chateau St. Jean 2004 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon - Red Wine



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