CALIFORNIA WINE HISTORY

California wine is nearly as old as our country, believe it or not. People are nearly always surprised to learn that there were around 800 wineries in the state, with more than 100 wineries in the Napa Valley alone, in 1890. The fact that Napa Valley's first non-native settlers arrived around 1838 makes it all the more remarkable.

Wine in Ancient Times

Like most good things in life, we're pretty sure that wine was discovered by mistake. Wine residue has been found in containers that date back over 7,000 years, so that's the official beginning. But, since yeast is everywhere like bacteria, no doubt someone at some very ancient time set aside a little grape juice as a treat for later and soon found they had something much more interesting all together!

The species that makes the world's wine today, vitis vinifera, is thought to be native to the area south of the Black Sea, in what is now Georgia and Armenia, and eventually traveled west. There's evidence that vitis vinifera was not only growing, but actively cultivated, in Tuscany before the Romans overtook the Etruscans in the 4th century BC and had been growing wild for centuries prior! Imagine what the wine must have tasted like then! Apparently, it was common to add herbs and spices to make it more palatable. Of course, Europe takes the credit for making these varieties famous. But, things really didn't start to happen in Europe until the ancient Romans began classifying grape varieties and studying their characteristics in order to increase yields and improve quality.

Wine Comes to the Americas

Wine production spread throughout Europe, surviving many physical and political upheavals over the centuries, thanks mainly to the church. Finally, around 1500, wine made its way to Mexico and Argentina for the first time. Hernando Cortez was the first to successfully establish European wine grapes in what is now Mexico. There was little confidence that his venture would succeed because earlier attempts to grow them along the Gulf Coast of North America had been disastrous - a foreshadowing of our phylloxera problems. But, the vines did so well in Mexico, where there was no phylloxera, that by 1595 the King of Spain decreed that new plantings and re-plantings were strictly forbidden, for fear of competition to his export market. The restriction was enforced for 150 years, putting any potential for commercial production on hiatus.

As in Europe, thanks to the church, some of the wine plantings survived and the California wine industry was concentrated in southern California, known as Alta California, in the early days. It gradually made its way north as more and more missions dotted their way up our coastline. It seems that the padres always brought the vines along with them. Father Junipero Serra was responsible for planting the first California vineyard in San Diego in 1769. Many think of him as the first true father of California wine.

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