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Category: Wine – Bibliography

The Promotional Strategy Of The California Wine Industry Was Tourism: Benito Dusi Was A San Luis Obispo County Believer

By 1919, California had become America’s leading winegrowing state with over 1,000 wineries in operation. On January 16th, 1919, with the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution everything changed. This was the beginning of the Prohibition Era in America – 1920-1933. It was not illegal to drink. Any wine, beer, or spirits in the possession of an American in 1920 could be enjoyed and consumed at home. The 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act stipulated that individual states should enforce Prohibition according to their own laws. Local law enforcement in San Luis Obispo County was vigilant, harsh and terrifying. People were arrested, jailed and paid large fines for making and selling wine.

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KCBX Wine Tasting On Sunday August 23,1983

In the early 1980s wineries began to partner with nonprofit organizations to support fundraising events. These partnerships not only strengthened those non-profits providing radio and musical events such as KCBX Public Radio and the Mozart (now Mosaic) Festival, they began new partnerships to raise funds for the Visual Arts, the Children’s Museum, and social needs.

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The Culinary Institute Of America (CIA) And Copia – A Remarkable Wine Collection You Must See!

The Culinary Institute of America, the institution we know today, started in 1946 as a vocational training school known as the New Haven Restaurant Institute. It was founded by the New Haven Restaurant Association in Connecticut and held the first classes on May 22 in the same year. The GI Bill provided educational benefits for veterans of World War II and, as a result, many educational opportunities were developed across the United States. The demand for education in the culinary arts was notable and expanded rapidly, perhaps due to exposure to the food services provided by the armed services during the war.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: Turrill & Miller (Part 1)

Some of the prettiest, and earliest, postcard views documenting the pre-Prohibition California wine industry are those published from photographs taken by Turrill & Miller. And all of them that are in my collection have been immediate and longtime favorites. I recently stumbled upon an online site of The Society of California Pioneers, San Francisco, that features the photographic work of Turrill & Miller, especially their wine country images. It’s a great story.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: Turrill & Miller (Part 2)

Including the “Beautiful California :: Wine Industry” series, there are some two dozen postcards in my California Wine Country collection that can be identified as Turrill & Miller photographic images — all are in Sonoma or Napa counties. Also, there are probably another dozen or so not bearing a Turrill & Miller imprint that could well be from their camera. The California Pioneers online video “survey” titled “An Escape to Wine Country” presents about three dozen images; it is not clear how many became postcards. There are about twice as many Napa images (29), and I have fifteen of them as known postcards. A thorough survey of the T & M photographic wine country archive (550+images) at the Society would be a valuable endeavor. In the meantime, traveling first to the Sonoma County area, here is a fine showing, with good stories.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: The Multiple Lives Of Greystone Cellars: A Busy Story

For the half-century of its modern life, most people have commonly referred to the magnificent, mammoth stone wine structure just north of St Helena in Napa Valley as Christian Bros Wine & Champagne Cellars. Historians readily call it by its birth name, Greystone. The years in between were busy years. Within a decade of its completion in 1889 by Bourn & Wise Wine Co, Greystone began its succession of property owners. In 1894 Charles Carpy, a Napa Valley wine pioneer and power in the industry, acquired it. When Carpy became a founding member of the giant California Wine Association that year, so did Greystone.

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Before The Cork Was Popped On A New Release At Cal Poly

The Central Coast of California has an abundance of award-winning wineries and vineyards and provides opportunities for real-world experiences for students of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to research viticulture and winemaking on the Fountain vineyard on the Cal Poly campus, and to seek internships at local vineyards and winery. Research and intern. The students also have the newest state of the art facility in the United States on campus. In the Fall of 2020, a new JUSTIN AND J. LOHR Center for Wine and Viticulture opened on the Cal Poly campus. The Center “includes a state-of-the-art, 5,000-case bonded 15,600-square-foot Winery,” according to the department’s website and includes barrel rooms, a bottling room, a fermentation hall, and a research lab.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: Here’s To Grapes And Wine – A Salute To Toasting Postcards

Toasting is one of our oldest social customs, evolving from prehistoric ritual, to royal banquets, to conviviality and friendship, to romance and love. Though the custom is ancient, the word “toast” dates back only to 17th century England, where it was used specifically to describe drinking to the ladies.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: Surprising Advertising

The California Wine Industry has embraced the use of postcards since their introduction in the U.S. in 1898 as an efficient, expressive tool to publicize their wines. The postcard front picture-image could be the winery itself, or the vineyard, cellar, tasting room, bottles of wine, or any other wine scene identifying a specific winery — with room on the back for a message and the address for mailing.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: Wine Wonders At Italian-Swiss Colony, ASTI | Part 2

Officially, Madonna del Carmine, or El Carmelo to the parishioners, the chapel was dedicated in 1909. Before this blessed day the devoutly Catholic Asti community attended church in Cloverdale until 1893, and then fourteen years in the Asti schoolhouse. Winemaker Pietro Rossi, their beloved leader and CEO of ISC, promised them they would have a church. In 1908 work was begun on his plan to remodel the old, unused greenhouse on the property.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: Wine Wonders At Italian-Swiss Colony, ASTI | Part 1

In 20th Century California wine lore, there is probably no winery more famous, more advertised, or more visited than Italian-Swiss Colony in northern Sonoma County, 85 miles north of San Francisco. Established in 1881, its 2500-acre site was located on the gentle slopes of the Russian River Valley between Geyserville and Cloverdale on the line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. They called it Asti. The agricultural colony was the brainchild of Andrea Sbarboro (1840–1923), a prosperous S.F. businessman who felt the need to help his fellow Italian immigrants in the depressed business conditions of the day.

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Thank You Gail Unzelman And Ernest Peninou: Unpublished Files Lead To Fascinating SLO County Discoveries

Grapes are a significant part of California’s agricultural products, and of much importance to the economy of the state. Presently, California produces 85% of all wine produced in the United States. Currently the state can be divided into five wine-growing regions: North Coast, Sierra Foothills, Inland Valleys, South Coast, and finally, California’s Central Coast from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories: Russian River Wine Lore At Korbel

Sonoma County’s 115-mile Russian River is a vital Northern California resource and its “Russian River Valley” is a premier American Viticultural Appellation, established in 1983. Flowing from its headwaters to the north near Ukiah in Mendocino Co, it meanders in every direction through the heart of wine country to make its way to the Sonoma Coast and the Pacific Ocean. The beloved River provides essential water for residential and agricultural uses, and has been a San Francisco Bay Area popular summer vacation destination since the 1860s.

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Caterina Gazzaroli Dusi’s Polenta – The Deal Maker

To serve Caterina’s Polenta you must have a china plate in your hand to serve yourself. Place one scoop of polenta in the middle of your plate. Select which type of stew you want and place a hefty scoop of stew on top of your scoop of polenta. Top the stew with a thick slice of Teleme or Telligio Cheese, and then put another scoop of polenta on top. Mangia! You can also substitute Gorgonzola Cheese for Teleme Cheese.

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Wine Country Postcard Stories

AN INTRODUCTION to myself and my wine postcards :: Following my first visit and taste of Northern California wine country in the 1960s, collecting and studying the history of this exciting new world fast became an absorbing passion. Vacations took my husband and me on visits to most of the wineries all over the state, gathering winery-offered brochures, wine labels, postcards. Searching the “old postcard” stalls at statewide Paper & Ephemera Fairs taught me early on the rare historical value of vintage California wine postcards. Today the collection has some 2200 cataloged postcards, acknowledged the largest in the world. These invaluable treasures will one day proudly reside at UC Davis-Special Collections. But until that time, it will be a great pleasure to share a monthly postcard story of California’s wine history

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Essential Wine Readings

Welcome to “Essential Wine Readings” – your ultimate destination for all things wine! This curated collection features a vast array of articles inspired by the world of wine, from vintage analyses and vineyard stories to pairing recommendations and insightful industry trends. Whether you’re a seasoned oenophile or a novice wine explorer, there’s an interesting article for everyone here.

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Julia Child – America’s First Celebrity Chef

This season I am enjoying the series Julia that explores the second half of her life, defined by the moment when Julia Child enrolled in the Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris to learn to savor and prepare French cuisine. The year was 1948. She met two women who became dear friends, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, in her studies. The friendships changed American cuisine and history when the three women opened their own cooking school, L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes. Their teaching style and collaboration led to their famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking which was published in 1961.

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Searching for American Heritage Wine Grapes In Missouri, Ohio and Texas

Which grapes dominate winemaking today? There are six grapes – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling – that dominate winemaking, and all of them are grown in San Luis Obispo County. They have been referred to as the “noble grapes” by generations of wine writers and authorities who identified these grapes at the top of an aristocratic hierarchy in Vitis vinifera. They are European grapes – none are American Heritage Grapes.

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American Rhone: How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink by Patrick J. Comiskey.

American Rhone Wines have seen dramatic growth as the American palate matures. More acreage is devoted to growing the grapes each year and more winemakers are producing the wines. Syrah is one of the most exciting varietals. Patrick writes the history of the American Rhone movement; it is timely and a compelling story which is most enjoyable to read as you sip your favorite varietal.

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