Sonoma County Wine - History

History

Grapes were planted in Sonoma County at Fort Ross as early as 1812. Padre Jose Altimira planted several thousand grape vines at Mission San Francisco Solano in what is now the city of Sonoma, in southern Sonoma County. Cuttings from the Sonoma mission vineyards were carried throughout the northern California area to start new vineyards. By the time of the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma and the subsequent annexation of California by the United States in 1854, wine grapes were an established part of agriculture in the region. The vineyards of General Mariano Vallejo, military Governor of Mexican California and based in Sonoma, were producing an annual income of $20,000 at that time. The grape varietals planted would not be considered premium varietals today.

In 1855, a Hungarian named Agoston Haraszthy arrived and purchased the Salvador Vallejo vineyard in Sonoma Valley, renaming it Buena Vista. Commissioned in 1861 by the California legislature to study viticulture in Europe, he returned with more than 100,000 cuttings of premium grape varietals. Many of the immigrants to the area were Northern Italian or from other wine-growing regions of Europe. After the Civil War and before Prohibition, wineries such as Bundschu, Foppiano, Korbel, Simi, Gundlach, Quitzow and Sebastiani were established that still exist.

In the 1920s there were 256 wineries in Sonoma County, with more than 22,000 acres (89 km2) in production. During the Prohibition period, however, commercial winemaking declined. At the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, fewer than 50 wineries in Sonoma County survived. Even as late as the 1960s, only 12,000 acres (49 km2) were vineyards. But wine consumption in America began to grow, and by 1999 Sonoma County had over 49,000 acres (198 km2) of vineyards owned by more than 750 growers and 180 bonded wineries. Of the 250 wineries existing in 2007, over half are less than 20 years old.