Lodi - Sacramento Wineries
THE GREAT INLAND VALLEY REGION
THIS VAST VALLEY REGION sweeps down in a fairly narrow band parallel to the coast line, from which it is separated by the mountains of the Coast Range. Some three hundred miles long, it stretches from north of the city of Sacramento down south beyond Bakersfield in Kern County. Its climate, moderately warm in the northern areas, becomes progressively hotter the farther south one comes.
The region takes in the territory of both the Sacramento and the San Joaquin river valleys. It is the home of the great California dessert or sweet wine production, for which the climate and soil are especially well suited. Table and sparkling wines are also produced, often blended with wines made from grapes grown in northern coastal counties vineyards. Most of the inland valley region vines, especially in the warmer climatic zones, are cultivated by irrigation methods.
The three great and equally famous winegrowing and wine-producing sections of the great inland valley region are, from north to south, the Lodi-Sacramento, the Escalon-Modesto, and the FresnoSan Joaquin Valley districts.
LODI-SACRAMENTO DISTRICT
This district takes in the wine-producing areas of Sacramento County and of the northern part of San Joaquin County.
In Sacramento County there is a winegrowing area which stretches east of the city of Sacramento down southward, where both table and dessert wines are produced. Elk Grove is a center famous for its production of berry and fruit wines.
Northern San Joaquin County contains the famed winegrowing area of Lodi, which spreads out from that city in all directions to a surrounding region some ten miles deep. Lodi is on the Mokelumne River, which flows into the San Joaquin and is sometimes referred to as lying in the upper reaches of the San Joaquin Valley. It can also be said to be situated at the juncture of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys and in what is known as the Central Valley.
Lodi is especially noted for its dessert wines although table wines are also produced there. It is the center of a vast Flame-Tokay vineyard district, spectacular in the fall on account of the brilliant coloring of the grapes. The Flame Tokays are mainly used as table grapes, but are also employed in many of the dessert wines produced by the Lodi wineries including the wine called tokay.
SACRAMENTO COUNTY
Mills Winery, Sacramento
The winery, situated east of Sacramento and just south of the American River, was founded in 1890 by the Silver brothers, who operated it until the thirties. The present owner, Paul Kershaw, Jr., who is president and general manager of the enterprise and also his own wine maker, took over in 1945, modernizing the winery and adding a large distilling plant for the production of brandy.
Most of the grapes used in the winery are from non-irrigated vineyards, some of them originating in the hillsides north of the American River toward the Mother Lode country, and others from the north coast counties. For the production of the dessert wines grapes from the inland valley region are also used.
Both table and dessert wines are produced, mostly on a bulk basis, destined for other wineries, but some bottling is also done for sale at the winery under the Mills and Beaumille brands. The featured wines are the Burgundy in the table wines and the Port in the dessert types, both of a dark red, nearly purple color. The Burgundy is produced from a blend of Carignane, Mataro, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel grapes, all from non-irrigated vines.
Gibson Wine Company, Elk Grove
The Gibson Wine Company, with its winery at Elk Grove, California, and offices at St. Helena and Palm Desert, California, is a subsidiary of the parent corporation, the Gibson Wine Company of Nevada, with principal offices in Cincinnati, Ohio.
A large and modern bottling plant is maintained in Covington, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, to which the company ships its bulk wine from California to be bottled and marketed throughout the Middle West and the East.
President of both the California company and the Nevada corporation is Robert H. Gibson, who after spending ten years in the stockbrokerage business in Cincinnati and New York turned to the production of wines.
He felt that many people would enjoy the taste of wines made from types of fruit other than grapes, and experimented for some years in the production of berry and fruit wines. His faith was fully justified and he succeeded in developing a large market in this field. Berry and fruit wines have found their own customers and the Gibson Wine Company has become one of the largest producers of these wines in the world.
Robert H. Gibson, known to his many friends as Bob, spends most of his time at St. Helena and Palm Desert, where he maintains his summer and winter homes as well as offices. On his St. Helena ranch he raises rare pheasants, of which he is a well-known breeder, supplying them to zoos throughout the world. He and his entire family also have a hobby of raising and showing fine quarter breds and he is the proud possessor of one of the outstanding strings of these horses in the West.
The trade-mark of the corporation is the Golden Pheasant, which appears on many of the labels and is blown into most of the company's bottles.
The Elk Grove winery, where nearly all of Gibson's berry and fruit wines, as well as the table and dessert wines, are produced, was originally built in 1912 as a gas-engine works where plane engines were built for the First World War. In 1934 it was converted into a winery by the Elk Grove Fruit Growers Association, a co-operative, and when Gibson secured it in 1943, it was known as the Sunny Crest Winery. The name was changed to the Gibson Wine Company of California and extensive rebuilding and modernization took place. From a small plant it grew into a large and modern winery, producing the finest berry and fruit wines in the state.
The following wines are produced and marketed under Gibson's brand:
Berry and Fruit wines (12 per cent alcohol by volume) : Old Briar Blackberry of the Boysenberry Variety, Boysenberry, Cherry, Elderberry, Loganberry, Raspberry, and Red Currant;
Berry and Fruit wines (20 or 21 per cent alcohol by volume) : Apple, Blackberry, and Grape;
Light Sweet wines (12 or 13 per cent alcohol by volume) : Light Sweet Red, White, and Muscat; American Concord;
Sparkling wines (from ioo per cent California wines and fermented in the bottle) : Yellow Label Champagne (Brut, Extra-Dry, and Sec), Red Label Sparkling Burgundy;
Vermouth: Sweet and Dry.
The quality brand for table and dessert wines is Gibson's Golden Pheasant and under this label the following varieties are produced and marketed:
Table wines: RED: Cabernet, Burgundy, and Claret;
WHITE: Sauterne, Riesling, Rhine, and Chablis;
Aperitif and Dessert wines: Palomino Sherry, Pale Dry, Golden, and Cream Sherries, Tawny and Ruby Ports; Muscatel and Tokay.
Numerous other Gibson brands and labels exist, of which Gibson's Private Stock Pheasant Brand is the most prominent and is used for wines in the economy field. These include:
Table wines: Burgundy, Claret, and Sauterne;
Aperitif and Dessert wines: Pale Dry Sherry, Sherry, and Cream Sherry; Port; Muscatel, Tokay, and White Port.
NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
Acampo Winery and Distilleries, Acampo
The winery is named after the town of that name, just north of Lodi. The owner, general manager, and wine maker is Dino Barengo, a graduate of the University of Nevada at Reno. He has been active in the wine industry for many years and worked among others for that colorful and legendary personality, Lee Jones, formerly head of the Shewan-Jones Company, which he founded after Prohibition, and who maintains his residence not far from Lodi.
Dino Barengo has been associated with the Acampo Winery since the early forties, when it was a stock corporation of which Cesare Mondavi, who later took over the Charles Krug Winery, was president. In 1943 the Acampo Winery was acquired by the Gibson Wine Company, now of Elk Grove, and Dino Barengo managed it for that concern. Barengo then leased the winery and finally purchased it in 1946, when he became the sole proprietor.
Both table and dessert wines of sound standard quality are produced, with Barengo and Barengo Reserve the featured brands with Royal Stag for northern Nevada, where Dino Barengo has retained many connections.
The most popular of the Barengo dessert wines are the Port (mostly from the Zinfandel grape), Sherry (from Palomino and Mission), Muscatel (from the Muscat of Alexandria), and Tokay (mainly from the Flame Tokay).
East-Side Winery, Lodi
The well-known East-Side Winery, one of the largest in the district, is a farmers' co-operative, founded in 1933- Its name was adopted because that section of the Lodi area where the winery is located, directly east of the city, is known as an area of particularly rich soil yielding high-quality grapes.
The co-operative is formed by some hundred winegrowing stockholders, to whom all returns revert after costs and taxes have been paid. E. J. Mettler is the president, Ed Preszler the vice-president, and K. T. Anderson the general manager. The wine maker is Herman Ehlers, R. Gianelli is the chemist, and W. Ehlers the bottling superintendent.
Both table and aperitif and dessert wines are produced, which rate among the finest of the inland valley wines.
The featured brand is Royal Host for quality wines, with Gold Bell the secondary label for those of competitive grade.
The Royal Host wines include the following:
Aperitif and Dessert wines: Pale Dry Sherry (featured), Sherry, and Cream Sherry; Port (another featured wine, of the Ruby type) and Tawny Port; Flame Tokay (produced roo per cent from the Flame Tokay grape) ; Marsala (medium sweet, with a high percentage of Palomino with the addition of Angelica) ; Muscatel, White Port, and Angelica; Dry and Sweet Vermouth;
Table wines: WHITE Rhine Wine (a house specialty of exceptional quality), Dry Sauterne, and Haut Sauterne; RED: Burgundy, Zinfandel, and Claret;
Light Sweet wines: Light Sweet Red and White.
A red table wine of the mellow Italian "vino rosso" type is marketed under the Buon Vino label, while another specialty is the socalled "Palomino Beige," an aperitif wine of the sherry order, very dry, made exclusively from the Palomino grape and containing 18 per cent alcohol by volume.,/P>
Under the Gold Bell brand a full line of sound standard-quality wines is marketed as follows:
Aperitif and Dessert wines: Pale Dry Sherry and Sherry, Port, Muscatel, Tokay, White Port, and Angelica;
Table wines: Burgundy, Zinfandel and Claret; Dry Sauterne, Haut Sauterne, and Rhine Wine.
Wine Growers Guild, Lodi
The Wine Growers Guild, one of the largest producers of the California wine industry, was incorporated as such in 1943, Succeeding California Wine Sales. The Guild is actually a federation of separate co-operative wineries, composed in turn of numerous individual growers. The crushing is done by the member wineries, who crush the grapes belonging to their members and produce the wines. The Guild is for central bottling and merchandising only, returning to the member wineries the gross proceeds of the sales, less all costs of blending, bottling, freight, advertising and sales and administrative expenses. The member wineries return to the growers the gross return from the sales of the wines, which is the figure returned to them by the Guild less actual production costs and including the administration of the producing plant. Both the Wine Growers Guild and all of the Guild producing units are strictly nonprofit co-operatives.
The following are the member wineries of the Guild: Cucamonga Pioneer Vineyard Association at Cucamonga (also known as Cucamonga Cellars of Wine Growers Guild), Lockeford Winery at Lockeford near Lodi, Del Rio Winery, Inc., at Woodbridge near Lodi (also known as Woodbridge Cellars of Wine Growers Guild), Bear Creek Vineyard Association at Lodi (also known as Lodi Cellars of Wine Growers Guild), Mendocino Grape Growers, Inc., of Ukiah, Mendocino County.,/P.
The location of the member wineries in the prime grape-growing areas enables the Guild to produce and market Zinfandels, Burgundies, and Clarets from the Cucamonga district, red table wines from Mendocino County in the Northern Coastal Region (such as used in their Vino da Tavola), and Palomino Sherry, Pale Dry Sherry, Port, White Port, and Zinfandel from San Joaquin County in the inland valley region.
L. K. Marshall, one of the great men of the California wine industry, with a knowledge and charm which only equal the respect in which he is held by one and all, is the president of the Wine Growers Guild. He is at the same time the general manager of Bear Creek Vineyard Association of Lodi, a well-known enterprise in its own right, founded in 1934, and a Guild member. Lawrence Quaccia is the Guild's wine maker.
One of L. K. Marshall's hobbies is the growing and developing of special varietals, and many an experimental wine has been made under his direct supervision. The purpose is to test out favorable varieties for which there seems to be a need under local climatic and soil conditions. Most the varieties are available to anyone interested in growing them. Varieties grown successfully by Marshall include the Tinta Madeira, a wonderful grape for the production of fine port wine, and Ruby Cabernet, which may have a great future before it in the claret field. The most intensive search at the present time is for a suitable variety to replace the Zinfandel, which in some localities is so subject to diseases that it is fast dying out.
A committee of outside experts yearly classifies and grades each cuvee or batch of Guild wine produced.
The top-quality brand is Ceremony, which is reserved for the older and vintage wines. These include:
Aperitif and Dessert wines: Palomino Pale Dry Sherry and Palomino Cream Sherry (excellent sherries both, produced from the grape of that name and aged in oak puncheons, available also in decanters), Tawny Port (from the Grenache and other grapes, also available in decanters), Golden Muscat;
Table wines: Burgundy and Sauterne;
Sparkling wines (bulk process) : Champagne and Sparkling Burgundy. The brand for the sound standard-quality wines is Guild and these include the following:
Aperitif and Dessert wines: Pale Dry Sherry, Sherry, and Cream Sherry; Port, Tawny Port, and Ruby Port; Muscatel, Tokay, White Port, and Angelica; Dry and Sweet Vermouth;
Light Sweet wines: Lite Sweet Red, White, Amber, and Muscat;
Table wines: RED: Vino da Tavola, Burgundy, Zinfandel, Chianti, and Claret; WHITE: Sauterne and Rhine; ROSE: Vin Rose.
The Guild has been especially successful in the promotion of its "Vino da Tavola" (or table wine), often called "Tavola" for short. It is a wine of the Italian "vino rosso" type and, in the words of L. K. Marshall: "not as light as a Rose, not as heavy as a Burgundy, not as tart as a Claret and possessing a `souprron' of sweetness:' It is deservedly an extremely popular wine, one of the very finest of its kind, and is available in all sizes, from gallon containers to splits.
