In the years following the Gold Rush, the grain fields of Napa Valley were giving way to vineyards, and wine was being made – not the wine that was to make Napa Valley famous – but wines still made in the primitive manner of the Spanish missionaries, trod out by foot for home consumption. The man who introduced modern winemaking into Napa Valley was Charles Krug (1825-1892), a young teacher and free-thinker from Prussia who arrived in San Francisco in 1852 to be the editor of Staats Zeitung, the first German-language newspaper on the West Coast. Impressed by California’s agricultural expansion, Krug soon left his editorial desk to pursue a career in farming and the new field of winegrowing. He met Agoston Haraszthy and followed him to Sonoma, where he bought land, planted a vineyard, and learned to make wine.
Charles Krug’s ‘Pioneer Press Of 1858,’ Napa County – c1907
Charles Krug used this cider press to make 1200 gallons of wine in 1858 for Napa vineyardist John Patchett, the first wine made in the county by modern methods. Krug’s meticulous and sound procedures resulted in a good wine and gained him a favorable reputation as a winemaker. The weekly California Farmer in San Francisco reviewed the historic wine saying, “The white wine was light, clear and brilliant and very superior indeed; his red wine was excellent.” Krug hauled his press in a wagon up and down Napa Valley, making wine for the next two years. In 1863, the first known California-made wine press was crafted by a Sacramento foundry. The familiar basket press, which uses a screw or ratchet to press a heavy plate down onto the grapes in a large basket, became the most common grape press from the 1870s until Prohibition, and is still used today. By the 1880s, there were numerous state-wide suppliers of winemaking equipment: presses, crushers, stemmers, pumps, &c, to equip any winery. In 1884, St. Helena’s new Taylor, Duckworth Foundry advertised “Wine Presses a Specialty,” available in several sizes.
Old Bale Grist Mill, North Of St. Helena, Built 1846 – c1910
Soon after his arrival in Monterey by sea in 1837, British-born physician Edward Bale was appointed Surgeon-in-Chief of Gen. Vallejo’s Mexican Army, became a citizen of Mexico and a Catholic, married the General’s niece, and received a land grant comprising most of the upper Napa Valley. (Bale’s grist mill is one of only two water-driven mills remaining west of the Mississippi River. Today, restored to working order, it is a popular Napa Valley tourist attraction.) On a winemaking foray to Bale’s home property south of town, Charles Krug met Bale’s daughter, Caroline. They were married in December 1860, and Caroline’s 540-acre dowry, directly north of St. Helena, became the Krug winegrowing estate.
Charles Krug Wine Estate, Est. 1861. St. Helena, Birdseye View – c1960
Located on the east side of the county road just above town, Charles Krug’s first neighbor was the Beringer Bros., who bought the 97-acre ranch directly across the road in 1875. Jacob Beringer had come to the valley in 1869 and served as Krug’s wine foreman until 1878. In 1889, a second winery neighbor arrived. Greystone, “the finest example of nineteenth century winery architecture in California,” was built to the north of Beringer. All three wineries have survived and thrived, some of the oldest wine estates in Napa Valley, Charles Krug being the oldest and the Valley’s first commercial winery.
Charles Krug Winery, St. Helena, Est, 1861 – c1907
This beautiful hand-colored postcard of Charles Krug Winery, protected under majestic oaks, is the only known pre-Prohibition postcard of the winery. Krug built his first winery, a “small crude cellar,” in 1861, and crushed about one hundred gallons of wine from Knights Valley grapes. Earlier that spring he had planted twenty acres to Mission vines. Through the years, his vineyard would grow to cover 150 acres in bearing vines. And, although he favored the white grape varieties, he also made excellent red wines, as well as dessert wines and brandy. In 1868 a well-designed stone building with a 250,000-gallon capacity was erected to house his winemaking and distilling operations.
Charles Krug Winery, St. Helena, Built 1874 – c1960
In 1874, Krug’s fine stone wine cellar was lost when an employee made a horrific blunder and put a burning sulphur stick into an empty brandy barrel. The resulting explosion and fire gutted the building. It was rebuilt, enlarged, and grew to 800,000 gallons during Krug’s lifetime. In the meantime, Krug had become an important figure in the California wine industry, his efforts continually directed toward improvements in his own methods and toward elevating the standards of winemaking throughout the state. In 1880, he was a force behind the establishment of the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners and was appointed Commissioner for the Napa District. That same year, he founded the St. Helena Vinicultural Society so as to exchange information on winemaking matters and address the phylloxera scourge in local vineyards. Two years earlier, Krug had joined with several St. Helena wine leaders, Beringer Bros, John Thomann, Weinberger, Scheffler, Lewelling et al to form the St. Helena Warehouse Assn. to provide a U.S. Government Bonded Warehouse to store grape brandy. With $10,000 in capital, a large stone warehouse was built at Church Street, near the railroad depot. Somehow, Krug found time to organize the St. Helena Water and Gas companies and found the San Francisco Turn Verein.
Howell Mountain, Hauling Grapes, Upper Napa Valley – 1906
Howell Mountain, at one time unpicturesquely referred to as “a volcanic knob northeast of St. Helena,” became a “boom” with winegrowers after Charles Krug sent Prof. Hilgard at the University some soil samples in 1880. Parcels of the original La Jota Rancho were being sold for grape growing purposes, already some twelve hundred acres of 100-acre to 160-acre plots. Krug was among those attracted to the possibility of great viticultural success at the high altitude and purchased a tract of land, cleared ninety acres, and planted a vineyard of the finest wine grape varieties. When Hilgard announced the soils “a sure thing” for successful viticulture, the land rush on Howell Mountain began. Familiar winery names established there in the 1880s include La Jota, Brun & Chaix, Keyes’ Liparita, and Franco-Swiss. Many of these later became Ghost Wineries in Irene Haynes 1980 book, but are now once again alive and well. Today, Krug makes a Howell Mt. Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from their vineyard located some 1650 feet up the mountain. Since 1984, Howell Mountain has had its own AVA.
Charles Krug Winery, Oak Room, Former Stable And Carriage House – c1960
At his death in 1892, Charles Krug was honored as a “most highly esteemed citizen” and “a man of courage and kindness” who was “exceedingly hospitable.” Historian Chas. Sullivan called him “one of the most important names in California wine history,” “the conscience of his winemaking community and a pillar of constant integrity.” His winery has lived on to this day as Charles Krug Winery, whose second life began when Cesare Mondavi & Sons (Robert and Peter) purchased the property following Prohibition in 1943. They replanted much of the vineyard, modernized the somewhat decrepit old winery, brought in new cooperage and winemaking equipment, and converted Krug’s stone stable-carriage house into the Oak Room, a cellar for aging select vintages in sixty-gallon oak barrels. By the 1950s, Krug was an early leader in the quality revolution in California wines. In the 1960s, the family controlled 600 acres of vineyard and had a capacity of two million gallons. When Cesare Mondavi died in 1959, a severe family rift developed. Robert was forced out in 1966 and founded his own winery at Oakville. In recent years, Peter Mondavi’s Krug has grown to over six million gallons in capacity and some one thousand acres of Napa vineyard. All the while, the original “Pioneer Press” used by Charles Krug over a century ago to make the first Napa Valley wine remains a prized possession of the winery.
References
James Beard, The Vine in Early California. No.8. Charles Krug. Book Club of California, 1955.
“Dedication of State Historical Landmark 563. Charles Krug Winery.” Dedication by California Historical Society and Napa County Historical Society, October 1957, St. Helena. (Booklet, [8] pp.)
Haynes, Irene. Ghost Wineries of Napa Valley. A Photographic Tour of the 19th Century. 1980.
Sullivan, Charles. Companion to California Wine, 1998.
