Lunsford - Wineries of the Gold Country

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When you see a frog at the top of a pole, all you can wonder is how he got there, because you know he didnt do it on his own; so it is with an endeavor like this book. I have many people to thank for opening up their archives, their histories, and their stories to me as I traveled through the Gold Country searching to tell the story that is embedded in the people of the area.

I am very grateful to everyone who took time from his or her busy life to speak with me. This is by no means a comprehensive listthat would take more room than I havebut I am sincerely thankful to William Bill Easton, Ron Erickson, Bob and Dottie Buchanan, Audie Buckler and her volunteers, Amador County vintner and historian Eric Costa, Jim and Pam Costello, Gay Callen, Greg Boeger, Daniel DAgostini, Ken Deaver, Brian and Diana Fitzpatrick, Ron Gianelli, Lisa Hopkins and her volunteers, Chuck and Jan Hovey, Barbara Kathan, John and Gail Kautz, Stephen Kautz, Melissa La Chapelle, Conrad Levasseur, Jeff Myers, Tracy Neil, Nanette Tanner, Debbie Poulsen, Nikki Reed, Leslie Sellman-Sant, Leon Sobon, Barden Stevenot, Shannon VanZant, Kimberley Wooten, and Ben Zeitman.

I am thankful for my editor at Arcadia, Jared Nelson, for his guidance, expertise, and all-around pleasantness; for my dear friends, who wondered what far-flung location I was going to next and endured the inevitable stories I would fill their ears with that would often start with, Listen to this, its amazing... ; and last but never least, I am thankful for the loving support of my family, my mom Carol Newell, my son, Timothy Lunsford, and my ever-present Lord.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Leon D. California Wine Industry Affairs: Recollections and Opinions. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Regional Oral History Office, 1990.

. Revitalizing the California Wine Industry. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Regional Oral History Office, 1974.

Calaveras County, California, Soil, Climate and General Resources. San Andreas, CA: Calaveras County Board of Trade, 1860.

Calaveras County: Illustrated and Described Showing Its Advantages for Homes. Oakland: W.W. Elliott & Company, 1885.

Carosso, Vincent P. The California Wine Industry 18301895: A Study of the Formative Years. Berkeley: UC Press, 1976.

Cenotto, Larry. Logans Alley Amador County Yesterdays in Pictures and Prose, vol. IV. Jackson, CA: Cenotto Publications, 19882006.

Costa, Eric J. Gold and Wine, A History of Winemaking in El Dorado County. El Dorado, CA: El Dorado Winery Association, 2010.

. Old Vines: A History of Winegrowing in Amador County. Jackson, CA: Cenotto Publications, 1994.

Daily Alta California, San Francisco.

Denman, J.L. A Brief Discourse on Wine, How to Choose It and How to Use It. London: Charles Griffin and Company, 1861.

Hardy, Thomas. Notes on Vineyards, America & Europe. Adelaide: L. Henn & Co., 1885

Husmann, George. Grape Culture and Wine Making in California. San Francisco: Payot, Upham & Co., 1888.

Lang, Herbert O. A History of Tuolumne County, California. San Francisco: B.F. Alley, 1882.

Mason, J.D. History of Amador County. Oakland: Thompson & West, 1881.

Pacific Rural Press, San Francisco.

Placer Herald, Auburn, CA.

Sacramento Daily Union.

Sioli, Paolo. Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County, California, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men & Pioneers. Oakland: Paolo Sioli, 1883.

Trinchero, Louis, and Carole Hicke. California Zinfandels, a Success Story. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Regional Oral History Office, 1992.

A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern California, Including Biographies of Many of Those Who Have Passed Away. Chicago: Standard Genealogical Publishing Co., 1901.

Wooten, Kimberly and R. Scott Baxter. Shenandoah Valley and Amador County Wine Country. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2008.

www.archives.org

www.cagenweb.com

www.cdnc.ucr.edu

www.corkforest.org

www.folsomhistorymuseum.org

www.house.gov

www.openlibrary.org

www.winefiles.org

One

TAKING ROOT

During the Gold Rush, many wineries sprang up, making wine for both household and commercial use. Here, Angelo Sciaccaluga holds a bottle of wine for a friend in the 1870s. Sciaccaluga opened his winery in Vallecito. Later, his great-grandchildren would follow in his footsteps, opening Tanner Vineyards in Murphys. (Courtesy of Tanner Vineyards.)

Credited with being the first to find gold in Placer County in the Auburn Ravine on May 16, 1848, Claude Chana holds a special place in the history of the Gold Country. A native of France, Chana worked as a cooper. Like many of those who came to the area and did well, Chana saw opportunity in more than mining. He planted peach pits, almonds, pear seeds, plum pits, and 200 grape cuttings from Mission San Jose along the Bear River on the Sigard Ranch, which he would eventually buy for $6,000 in gold. Successful in his agricultural endeavors, he was listed as a winemaker in the 1880 census and produced 10,000 to 12,000 gallons of wine annually. He is honored in the area with this statue in the city of Auburn, sculpted by Dr. Kenneth Fox, pictured here standing next to his creation. (Courtesy of Placer County Museums.)

Gardellas Cellars was founded by Charles Gardella and was one of many wineries in Calaveras County that contributed to the area being the fourth-largest wine-producing area in the newly minted state of California. Mr. Gardella has established that cultivation is better than irrigation, and has the pride of Calaveras in the shape of a vineyard, said Anthony Caminetti in 1887. Caminetti was a prominent viticulturist and politician in Amador County. (Courtesy of Calaveras County Archives.)

Miners came from all over the world to make their fortunes during the California Gold Rush. Many immigrants of Italian descent, like the Gardella family, found the area and climate very similar to the hills of their homeland and began to plant vineyards. The Gardellas had extensive vineyards and a winery in the thriving Gold Rush town of Mokelumne Hill. (Courtesy of Calaveras County Archives.)