Napa Valley & Sonoma History

As early as 1812, Russian colonists planted and cultivated grapes at Fort Ross on the Coast. But it was the Spanish Franciscan Fathers who laid the foundation for the Napa & Sonoma wine industry in 1824 when Padre Jose Altimira planted several thousand grape vines at their northernmost mission, San Francisco Solano in Sonoma.

In 1834, political upheaval brought an appropriation of all missions by the Mexican government. During this period of disarray, cuttings from the Sonoma mission vineyards were carried throughout the northern California area to start new wineries. By the time of the "Bear Flag Revolt" and the subsequent annexation of California by the United States in 1854, the vineyards of General Mariano Vallejo, the military Governor of Mexican California, were producing an annual income of $20,000.

All of this viticultural activity took place prior to the arrival in 1855 of the man considered "The Father of California Wine Industry," Agoston Haraszthy. The mysterious Hungarian who claimed to be a count purchased the Salvador Vallejo vineyard in Sonoma Valley, renamed it Buena Vista, and soon was producing fine wines from the vineyard. In 1861, he was commissioned by the California legislature to study viticulture in Europe. He returned to Sonoma County the following year with over 100,000 cuttings of prized grape varietals from France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Haraszthy is credited with first promoting the concept that fine table wines could be produced in Sonoma County as well as Europe.

But vines were not the only resources that Europe provided the California wine industry. Between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Prohibition, European immigrants brought winemaking knowledge and techniques to the fertile soils of Sonoma. Bundschu, Foppiano, Korbel, Simi, Gundlach, Quitzow and Sebastiani established wineries that exist and flourish a century later.

A worldwide outbreak of phylloxera, American root louse, occurred in 1873 and nearly destroyed the young vineyards. Finally, vines disease-resistant to the soil parasite were found and varietal shoots grafted to these hardy stocks. The wine industry then continued its expansion to such a magnitude that the San Francisco Chronicle, October 22, 1876, noted: "As a wine growing region, Sonoma stands at the head of the list." Indeed, in 1920, there were 256 wineries and Sonoma County had surpassed Los Angeles in total wine acreage with more than 22,000 acres in production (in 1998 there were 194 wineries and 44,700 acres of grapes).

In 1919 the United States government shut down the commercial wine industry with the 18th Constitutional Amendment and passage of "The Volstead Act." However, the Sonoma County Grape Growers, many of whom helped raise what was to become the California state flag in the "Bear Flag Revolt," voted to go ahead with the crush and make wine anyway. Eventually, however, the wineries not making "sacramental" or "medicinal" wine were closed but grape growers actually flourished. The demand for grapes from home winemakers was so great in the early years of Prohibition that grape prices reached highs not equaled until the last years of the 1960s.

The year 1933 brought the election of Franklin Roosevelt and the repeal of Prohibition. The wine industry in Northern California then underwent a slow revival. Small to medium sized wineries sprang up in Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley and the Russian River area, places that had experienced limited growth in the earlier years.

The 1940s were tumultuous years for the California wine industry. Post-war years were characterized by severe overproduction of grapes and wine bringing government mandated programs of pro-rations and set-asides to cope with the overproduction. Adversity brought a new group of winegrowers from business, commerce and industry to work beside second-generation Napa & Sonoma County wine industry pioneers. They were still in the rebuilding process when the nationwide wine boom hit in the 1960s. Orchards were pulled out and grazing land plowed under for vineyards and, for the first time, white grapes were predominant. The winemakers were heeding the tastes of the American consumer.

Technical changes were also taking place within wineries as stainless steel fermenters and crusher-stemmers appeared. Viticulturists were retiring to labs and creating exciting new varietals. The Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms set about to clarify and more strictly define wine labels in 1975, and by 1978 "appellations" were beginning to be an important part of the marketing of Northern California wines.

By 1997, in Sonoma County alone, grew 174,000 tons of grapes valued at $273 million. These grapes were produced on about 36,000 acres of bearing vineyards and there was another 5,000 non-bearing. This was the biggest and most valuable harvest in history.

Today there are over 500 vineyards in Napa and Sonoma Counties, many just a short distance from your cycle route. These oases of viticulture are charming places to stop for a tasting and many having beautiful, shaded picnic spots ­ and a history dating back to the early 1800s.