FOREWORD

Reading through California Vines, Wines & Pioneers took me back to my childhood. Names of towns, streets, businesses, wineries and vineyards all sparked fond memories of growing up in Napa Valley. The people behind the names had little significance to me back then, but they have emerged over the decades as the bedrock of our industry. Author Sherry Monahan has written a thorough and intriguing account of California wine’s founding fathers (and, more rarely, mothers). She has bridged the gap between these nineteenth-century visionaries and the omnipresent and international wine businesses of the twenty-first century whose seeds were, in fact, planted by those visionaries generations ago.

Ms. Monahan’s story vividly captures the foresight and determination of these pioneers and the challenges they faced as they wrote the history of the Wild West. She also ferrets out the histories of our founding families, tracing them back to their homelands. The impressive role that Europe played in shaping this nascent California trade is worth noting. All of these wine pioneers came from the quintessential wine growing countries of Europe with their “Old World wines.” She eloquently describes their arrival, some through very circuitous routes, and the journey to planting vines and vinifying their fruit. From eclectic backgrounds and of mostly modest means, they shared a determination to overcome anything in their way. For some, obstacles such as phylloxera and prohibition proved too daunting, but more often than not, failed endeavors were later reborn under new owners with new visions.

California Vines, Wines & Pioneers impressively chronicles the grape varieties that were planted at the dawn of our industry. These varieties were as varied as their owners’ origins, but the common grape connecting many growers and vintners was Cabernet Sauvignon, a vestige of their Old World heritage. These nineteenth-century immigrants came full circle by shipping their wares back to the Old World, competing against their European counterparts and garnering prestigious awards in the process. History repeated itself with the Paris Tasting of 1976 when California wines again prevailed, as they often had the century before.

Sherry Monahan’s stories, bolstered by her passion for genealogy and historical research, have broadened our knowledge of the founders and descendants of the California wine business. Stories have always been used to sell bottles of wine. We now have more stories, accurately told, that bring life to our industry. Her book celebrates the lives of the Old World settlers and the visionaries who shepherded the historic wineries and vineyards, and California wine, into the present.

This work adds a new dimension to the terroir that we taste in our wines today. Next time you enjoy a glass, toast our history. I know I will.

Salute,

Peter Mondavi Jr.

Co-proprietor, Charles Krug Winery