Women + Wine

Katie Rice & Sarah Pierre

Rice owns VinoTeca in Inman Park and Pierre owns 3 Parks Wine Shop in Glenwood Park..

The birth of commercial winemaking

began in Los Angeles with Jean Louis Vignes in 1833. Several other wineries followed in Southern California, but it wasn’t until the 1850’s that Oak Knoll was first planted by Joseph Osborne. This original vineyard designation still exists and has been split into benchmark vineyards.

However, a true wine pioneer was George Calvert Yount (Yountville bears his name) who began cultivating vines as early as 1836 before statehood. The famed To-Kalon vineyard sits on his original site. John Padgett began making wine out of the first winery in 1859 with winemaker Charles Krug. They were reviewed in “California Farmer Magazine” in 1860 which said, “The white wine was light, clear and brilliant and very superior indeed; his red wine was excellent.”

The California Gold Rush meant more immigration and more demand for wine. In the later half of the 1800s, European immigrants from Austria, Hungary, France, and Finland established commercial wineries, notably Buena Vista in Sonoma County and Gundlach Bundshu and Inglenook in Napa Valley. Josephine Tyschon became the first female winemaker, vigneron, and winery owner in 1881 when she began cultivating in St. Helena. Her winery would become today’s Freemark Abbey and Coglin Wines, which both produce wines dedicated to her.

Along with Mission vines, the first plantings in this area were mostly Zinfandel and Petite Syrah. For white wine: Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscatalle.

While Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir are popular today, they were secondary at this time. The winery Inglenook really embraced Bordeaux varietals and actually submitted wines to the world’s fair in Paris in 1889, which won a gold medal. Inglenook’s accolades made it the premier winery of the day leading to more Cab and Merlot plantings.

The month of July is synonymous with all things USA so we decided to do a deep dive into America’s favorite wine-growing state – California.

Not only does this state produce the most wine, they also are the largest consumer – 30 million gallons more than the next highest, Texas! It seems only fitting that we feature the Golden State’s contribution to the wine industry, especially the famed region of Napa Valley.

The first recorded planting of vines in California dates to 1683 by Jesuit missionaries, but the most prevalent planter was Father Junípero Serra, a Franciscian Missionary who established vineyards from San Diego to San Francisco to make wine for religious sacraments.

By 1790, the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was producing 35 million gallons of wine per year, which is sold to help fund the sites. In 1830, the sale of wine was outlawed by the church and many vineyards were abandoned. The remaining vineyards were nearly all destroyed during the 1920s Prohibition era when wine had to be smuggled in from Mexico.

The Mission grapes, a variety of Vitis vinifera, have seen a resurgence further north with plantings in both Mexico’s Baja Peninsula as well as some niche vineyards in California.

It wasn’t until the repeal of Prohibition that the wine industry really blossomed, but recovery was slow due to the Great Depression and World Wars. The 1950s led to a resurgence including much more land dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon with better land studies and knowledge. The second new winery in Napa didn’t come until 1964 when Robert Mondavi opened. Mondavi was originally a farmer but traveled and trained extensively in Europe and brought modernized production, oak barrels for aging, and promoted exportation that truly ushered in a new era in California.

Another notable event was the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 when several U.S. wineries were invited to present their wines to French oenophiles. The wines were put in bags and blindly poured in competition with French Burgundies and Bordeaux. Local judges awarded the highest marks to California Cabernet and Chardonnay, which expanded their recognition as a world-class production area. This led to the modern era of big wineries, extensive production, and marking California as the fourth largest production area in the world.

And let’s not forget the effect of the acclaimed 2004 film “Sideways,” which gave California’s Napa Valley “wine country” a huge ttourism boost and increased pinot noir production in the state 170 percent. Officials said the “Sideways side-effect” increased total wine grape production 7 to 8 percent during the time.

It must be noted that the history of California wine does not exist without controversy and overlooked truths that date back to its origin. The land planted by Father Junípero Serra was home to several indigenous tribes, so his actions were instrumental in the destruction of native culture and subsequent deaths. Another stumbling block was the treatment of Chinese immigrants who came to California via the railroads that they built across the nation. Many workers helped to plant and harvest vineyards, dig caves, and build the original commercial wineries, some even assisting as winemakers. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed which pushed many out in favor of white labor erasing their contribution to what has become a billion-dollar industry.

The modern California wine industry shows minimal resemblance to their past indiscretions. More BIPOC winemakers are entering the conversation, and poor labor practices are being rectified. They have become a benchmark for changes that many trades can follow.