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, it is California where the great majority (up to 90% by some estimates) is produced. In fact, California would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world if it were an independent nation.
Early Years
In 1861 Charles Krug established Napa Valley's first commercial winery in St. Helena.
In 1879 Captain Gustave Niebaum established Inglenook Winery in Rutherford, California a small village (in Napa County, California). Now the site of the Niebaum-Coppola Winery, it was the first Bordeaux style winery in the USA. Captain Niebaum's wines became world renowned. His Inglenook wines won gold medals at the World's Fair of Paris in 1889.
During the period when the Europeans were contending with phylloxera, the American wine industry was ironically flourishing. By 1900, America had a fully developed and proud commercial wine producing business. Many California wines received medals in European competitions. Barrels of California wine were being regularly exported to Australia, Canada, Central America, England, Germany, Mexico and the Orient.
Wine Revolution
André Tchelistcheff is generally credited with ushering in the modern era of winemaking in California. Beaulieu Vineyards (BV) founder and owner Georges de Latour hired Tchelisticheff in 1938. He introduced several new techniques and procedures, such as aging wine in small French Oak barrels, cold fermentation, vineyard frost prevention, and malolactic fermentation.
In 1965, Napa Valley icon Robert Mondavi broke away from his family's Charles Krug estate to found his own in Oakville, California. It was the first new large-scale winery to be established in the valley since before prohibition. Following the establishment of the Mondavi estate, the number of wineries in the valley continued to grow, as did the region's reputation.
Backed by continuing research, California vintners continue to innovate in attempts to further enhance the quality and competitiveness of their products. The story of California wine continues to evolve.
When it comes to wine, California might as well be a country in itself. It has extensive and varied wine producing regions throughout. A complete listing of California's AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) broken down by the counties in which they reside can be found here.