Californian Wine

 

This was followed in the 1850’s with Hungarian businessman  Agoston Haraszthy, who came to California after establishing businesses in Wisconsin. Finding the prevalent Mission grape to be of inferior quality, he began to select high quality vines from Europe and established vineyards in Crystal Springs outside San Francisco with the help of a government viticulture grant. Though found culpable for some shady business practices outside the wine industry, he was able to relocate his vines from Crystal Springs to a vineyard in Sonoma, which he renamed Buena Vista. He joined forces with General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, who had relocated from Baja and planted more vitis vinifera as well as the first Zinfandel plantings in the state. Haraszthy is credited with starting hillside planting as well as using a Chinese immigrant labor force to dig the first caves for cool temperature cellaring. 

 

The 1860s marked tragedy for the European wine industry as the Phylloxera crisis took hold and destroyed most of the vines, and this spread to the vitis vinifera in the states. After discovering that precious grapes could be salvaged by grafting native American root stock to European vines, California rebounded quickly as Europe began its slow recovery into the 19th century. This was an opportunity for the expansion and export boom of California wine until the Prohibition put an abrupt halt on the industry from 1919 - 1933. And the rest of the world drank on.

 

But the California wine industry came back as American Viticultural Areas (AVA’s), akin to the European appellation system, were established. The 1950s - 1980s marked an era of divurging tastes. This was a time of cheap jug wine, bastardization of European grapes and places (Fume Blanc and Rhine wine anyone?) and the proliferation of super fruity blush wines, or “white Zinfandel,” to mass produce releases that were considered more suitable for the average American palate. At the same time, wine-makers began cultivating high quality wines that matched, and in many cases, exceeded the reputation of big name labels from overseas. The real turning point came in 1976 in the infamous Judgement of Paris in which wines from California producers bested some of the finest French wines to win the competition in blind tastings. This is also the era of the “Rhone Rangers” movement to advance the quality production of Rhone varietals which had previously been underused in favor of Bordeaux grapes. 

 

Today, California is still a mix of mass production and artisanal wine-making, and there is debate over what can be considered a distinctly “California” style of wine. For every oak-driven Chardonnay there is another producer finding ways to vinify Italian or Spanish varietals, previously unknown to US soil, using native yeasts and judicious oak treatment. For every $1000 bottle of cult Cabernet there are humble wineries churning out accessible small productions for the sheer purpose of maximum enjoyment. With its various microclimates and terroirs and the range of grapes and styles being implemented, California has proven to be a region with something for every palate. ~Amanda Schuster