Amasa Leland Stanford was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party politician from California. He served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1885 until his death in 1893. He and his wife Jane founded Stanford University, named after their late son.
Paul Masson was a French-born American winemaker. He is considered an early pioneer of California viticulture known for his brand of Californian sparkling wine.
Concannon Vineyard is the second-largest winery in the Livermore Valley of California, producing around 30,000 cases annually. It is well known for its Petite Sirah and Concannon was the first winery to bottle this grape as a varietal wine in 1961. Prior to 1961, the petite sirah grape was produced worldwide as a blend wine. It also produces several other varieties of wine, including Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvingnon. In December 2024, it was announced Concannon was acquired by Lemmons Family Vineyards LLC and Darcie Kent Winery LLC from The Wine Group, which owned the property since 2004.
GALLO is a winery and distributor headquartered in Modesto, California. It was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo of the Gallo family, and is the largest exporter of California wines. It is the largest wine producer in the world, producing over 3% of the world's entire annual supply of 35 billion bottles with an annual revenue of $5.3 billion it is also the largest family-owned winery in the United States. Gallo provides about 3,500 jobs to Modesto residents and 2,500 jobs in other parts of the state, country, and world.
Kathryn Kennedy was a California wine grower, establishing her vineyard during the growth phase in the California wine history known as "The Wine Boom of the early 1970s". While not the first woman winemaker, Kennedy was one of the first owners of a brand to bear a woman's name in California, and one who came to the scene independent of the young women graduates of the University of California-Davis.
D'Agostini Winery refers to both a winery in Healdsburg, California owned by Armagan Champagne Cellars as well as the original vineyard, winery, and wine cellar located in Plymouth, Amador County, which are owned by Sobon Estate Winery. The original winery is registered as a California Historical Landmark.
California wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% of American wine is produced in the state. California would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world if it were an independent nation.
Cresta Blanca Winery was one of the original Livermore Valley wineries. It was founded by Charles Wetmore in 1882 with cuttings of Sauvignon blanc from Chateau d'Yquem and other top Bordeaux properties. Its first vintage, a dry white wine in 1884 won Grand Prize at the 1889 Paris Exposition, becoming the first California wine to win a competition in France. The victory also assured the future of the California wine industry, which had fallen upon hard times.
The Picchetti Winery, also known as the Picchetti Ranch, is a winery located at 13100 Montebello Road in Cupertino, California in the Picchetti Ranch Open Space Preserve. The Picchetti brothers, Secondo and Vincenzo, for whom the ranch was named, were among the earliest settlers to plant grapes on this ridge, which they named "Monte Bello" or "beautiful mountain." This ridge was later to become one of Santa Clara County's important vineyard areas.
The Mountain Winery, formerly the Paul Masson Mountain Winery, is a winery in Saratoga, California, United States, North America. It was founded by Paul Masson, a pioneer of the California wine industry. The winery became famous for its slogan, voiced by Orson Welles in television commercials: "We will sell no wine before its time."
Sonoma County wine refers to the viticulture and winemaking in Sonoma County, California, United States. County names in the United States automatically qualify as legal appellations of origin for wine produced from grapes grown in that county and do not require registration with the United States Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Santa Clara Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located mostly in Santa Clara County, California. The area served an important role in the early history of California wine and was home to the pioneer winemakers Paul Masson and Charles Lefranc. It was established on April 27, 1989 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury after evaluating the petition proposing a viticultural area in Santa Clara, San Benito, San Mateo and Alameda Counties that extends from lower San Francisco Bay with the cities of San Jose, Santa Clara, Menlo Park, Mountain View and Fremont toward the southern boundary near Gilroy and Morgan Hill, outlining the viticultural area named "Santa Clara Valley." It includes the historic winegrowing areas of Santa Clara County not already within the Santa Cruz Mountains viticultural area, plus the area near Mission San José in Alameda County and a small part of San Benito County. Santa Clara Valley encompasses the established viticultural areas, Pacheco Pass and San Ysidro District.
Santa Cruz Mountains AVA is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) centered on the Santa Cruz Mountains. Its territory spans three California counties, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo and was established January 4, 1982 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury. Santa Cruz Mountains AVA was among the first AVA to be defined by its mountainous topography. Based on elevation, it largely follows the fog line along the coast, extending down to 800 feet (240 m) on the eastern slope toward San Francisco Bay, 400 feet (120 m) on the western slope to the Pacific Ocean and extending along the ridge crest line at 3,000 feet (910 m) elevation plus.
Almaden Vineyards, historically written as Almadén Vineyards, is a Californian winery. Founded in 1852, it is the oldest commercial winery in California. Originally located and established in Almaden Valley, San Jose, the winery has since moved to the San Joaquin Valley, primarily based in Escalon and Madera.
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted Vitis vinifera vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries continued the practice under the direction of the Father Junípero Serra who planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
Buena Vista Winery is a winery located in Sonoma, California, United States. It is the second oldest winery in California after the D'Agostini Winery, which was founded a year prior in 1856. It was founded by Agoston Haraszthy in 1857. The winery is located on its original grounds, just east of Sonoma, California.
Rancho Agua Caliente was a 9,564-acre (38.70 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Alameda County, California granted in 1836 by Governor Nicolás Gutiérrez to Antonio Suñol and confirmed in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Fulgencio Higuera. The name means "warm water" and refers to the warm springs located in the foothills a short distance south of Mission San José. The grant is just south of present-day Fremont.
Cucamonga Winery is an American winery originally located in Cucamonga, California. It was started by brothers Alfred and Eduardo Accomazzo in 1933. The winery is connected with the city's founding. A California Historical Landmark marker was placed at Cucamonga Winery in Cucamonga, California, marking the spot of historical Rancho Cucamonga.
The Malaguerra Winery is a historic winery located in Morgan Hill, California. The two-story winery is the oldest remaining winery structure in Santa Clara County, which stands at the eastern edge of the Valley and the foothills of the Diablo Range. It was constructed in 1869 for ranchero José María Malaguerra. The Malaguerra Winery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 23, 1980.
