Picking Grapes In California, Near Fresno – c1908
“Welcome to Clovis” is the message offered from this early, hand-colored postcard of a typically vast San Joaquin Valley vineyard during harvest. The Clovis community began in the 1870s when Stephen Hudson Cole homesteaded 320 acres of government land in Fresno County. In 1872, he gave four horses to his 16-year-old son, Clovis M. Cole (1856-1939), who became a teamster and hauled lumber from the Sierra Nevada mountains to purchase land to grow grain for feed and seed. A very successful wheat farmer and land investor by the late 1880s, he farmed 50,000 acres in the valley and gained fame as the “Wheat King of America.” In 1890, he sold a right-of-way across his land to the new railroad, which agreed to establish a depot named “Clovis” at the edge of the property. At age thirty-four, Clovis Cole became the namesake of a valley town situated less than ten miles from Fresno, the county seat and economic hub of the surrounding areas predominantly tied to large-scale agricultural production, including many of the early vineyards and winery operations owned by men of wealth.
St. George Vineyard, Maltermoro, Clovis, Fresno Co. – 1906
George H. Malter (1852-1927) began planting his vineyard in 1879, five miles east of the new town of Fresno and less than a mile from the pioneering Eisen Brothers vineyard along Fancher Creek. A nearby neighbor was the 760-acre vineyard of George Eggers, planted to some of the best French varieties, along with nearly a hundred acres in Muscats. Malter’s million-gallon winery, built in 1884 at Clovis Avenue & Tulare Street, specialized in sweet wine and brandy like many of the large-scale operations. He was also applauded for his award-winning table wines and a sparkling wine. His endeavor became one of the most profitable and the largest in California. It boasted the world’s largest wine vat of 82,000 gallons, a winery output capacity of 200 tons of grapes daily from 2000 acres of vineyards planted to choice varieties; two carloads of brandy every twenty-four hours; a wine tank that could hold 30 carloads of wine, and more. Our scenic hand-colored 1906 postcard — with background vineyards as far as the eye can see — carries a great hand-written message: “This is one of largest wineries in Calif … you can get a fine 4-year-old wine @ 35 cents a gal!!! Come out!”
St. George Winery, Maltermoro, Fresno Co. – c1900
This amazing postcard image gives us an invaluable visit to Maltermoro, including the Malter residence, the immense, sprawling winery, and the continuous distillery operation. This site was not only a huge winery and distillery, but a self-contained village that featured a general store, a post office, employee living quarters, and its own spur railroad. Though gutted by fire in 1902 and again in 1917, the buildings of the St. George were restored, and as described by historian Ernest Peninou in 1958, “were still in use, painted a yellow ochre, somewhat softened by age and looking a bit like a monastery. One building in particular, with its low tower and pairs of round-headed windows, resembled certain small Romanesque churches of southern France.” Significantly, Malter’s winery for dry table wine production was located at Antioch in cooler Contra Costa Co. along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Although revived after Repeal by his son George Jr, St. George Winery — one of the area’s greatest showplaces — was sold in the 1940s, and today the site is a housing development.
Residence Of G. H. Malter At Maltermoro – c1907
Malter, born in Prussia, came to America in 1868. He settled in San Francisco and made his fortune as a mining engineer and builder of heavy mills and mining machinery, becoming president of the Aetna Iron Works. In 1891, near the winery and in a park-like, forested setting, Malter built a three-story mansion in a curious, indeterminate style. Here, on the upper floor, he had a valuable library of some 4000 volumes. A gentleman of many and diverse interests, Malter traveled widely, became an eager student of oriental arts and philosophies, and a prolific writer on these and other subjects ranging from medicine to the behavior of women. He resided in the City until 1906, when he moved permanently to Maltermoro. In San Francisco, he was one of the early members of the Bohemian Club, while his yacht, the Emerald, won the Cup for three successive years for the S. F. Yacht Club. Residing both in San Francisco and at Maltermoro, it was never his intention to personally manage his vineyards and wineries; he was a gifted businessman and acknowledged as one of the first to advertise his wines by the extensive use of small printed pamphlets.
Entrance Las Palmas Vineyard, Clovis, Fresno Co. – c1907
In the early 1880s, at Clovis Avenue and Olive Street, about a mile north of George Malter’s St. George Winery and directly south of the Eggers property, palm-loving Maj. Benjamin R. Woodworth (1861-1907) established his 160-acre Las Palmas Vineyard as a grape-growing and raisin-packing enterprise. His artistically landscaped estate became widely known as one of the finest in the Fresno area. In 1891, when the San Joaquin Valley Railroad (soon to be Southern Pacific R.R.) laid tracks along the eastern boundary of his vineyard and established the Las Palmas Depot, he added a sizeable winery. Three years later Woodworth faced financial difficulties, and his estate was acquired by the San Francisco investment firm Balfour-Guthrie & Co., who owned large sections of land throughout the Central Valley, including over two thousand acres in and around Fresno. Attorney Lindsey Rogers purchased Las Palmas in 1910 and erected a new winery building and distillery, which he operated until 1916, when he sold the property to the California Wine Association. Subsequently, B. Cribari & Sons acquired it in the mid-twenties and made sacramental wines until Repeal. After enlarging and modernizing the winery, they kept it until 1954, when E. & J. Gallo purchased the mammoth operation to be the nucleus of their Fresno wine facility.
Grape Vines And Palms, Las Palmas Vineyard, Near Fresno – 1909
Even from miles away, this must have been a stunning sight in the flat vineyard lands of Las Palmas. An early 1897 description in Imperial Fresno recalls the “avenues of beautiful palm trees leading from the east and west sides of the property, converging at the headquarters … the most enchanting of country villas. The barn, packinghouse, wine cellar and other outbuildings are large and well in keeping with such a finely improved property.”
Monte Cassino Wine Co, Vineyards & Wineries, Clovis – c1940s
This colorful 1940s postcard of an aerial view of the Monte Cassino Wine Co. at Clovis was found in the 1990s. (Of itself, the card is quite interesting. In postcard language, it is referred to as a linen card, from the period 1930 to 1945, when certain publishers used more rag in the printing paper, giving the card a stiff linen texture. New inks provided brighter, visually appealing colors and interest to the image. Since my collection focuses on pre-Prohibition postcards, there are very few linen cards, and I appreciate the spark they impart.) It was not until recently (2022), after several earlier frustrating attempts, that I was able to unearth the story — with many thanks to modern online digitized resources and the able abilities and tenacity of a U.C. Public Services Research Librarian. Back in 2002, a Clovis old-timer told my Fresno State historian friend Prof. Allan Shields that he remembered the winery. It was located at the corner of two major avenues, Shaw & Willow, around 1928–29, surrounded by vineyards, about six miles from downtown Fresno. That was all he knew, all we could learn. I now have a two-page UCFresno report on the enterprise. The old-timer was spot-on with the location and dates, but recent research found that the winery was not known as Monte Cassino Winery, but Vieth Winery, for the owner William Vieth. Built in 1910, a complex ownership history followed. During Prohibition, the winery processed large amounts of grape juice and sweet wine, selling to those with a bond for religious or medical purchases. After Repeal, it operated as Lucerne Winery and then as Elsinore Winery or Fresno Winery. Historically, Monte Cassino is the name of the first Benedictine monastery in Italy. The brotherhood had a Monte Cassino monastery in Covington, Kentucky, with a long history, and is known to have bought wine from the Clovis wine facility. Still, one wonders why the Clovis postcard is captioned Monte Cassino Wine Co.
Tarpey La Paloma Winery, Clovis – c1910
Michael F. Tarpey (1847-1925) came to California from Ireland as a child with his parents in 1853. As a young man, he became an associate of Senator George Hearst, from whom he learned about mining, politics, and wine growing. By the time he was thirty-five, he had acquired considerable wealth. Following Hearst’s earlier viticultural endeavors in Sonoma County, Tarpey began planting choice wine grapes in Fresno County. By 1891, he had 150 acres in wine grapes, and four years later, he built his La Paloma Winery. In 1910-1911, when his vineyards covered some 1400 acres, Tarpey incorporated and built a new 1.5 million-gallon winery, the only reinforced concrete wine facility in the San Joaquin Valley, comprised of numerous large buildings and a sixty-foot tower. During this same period, Tarpey, as a leader of California’s sweet wine industry, and in an effort to compete against the giant California Wine Assn., organized a new independent wine firm, California Wineries & Distilleries. For a short while, they were successful and held their ground, but by the end of 1912, Tarpey agreed to the C.W.A.’s offer of a ten-year lease of his winery and a contract for his grapes beginning with the 1913 harvest. In February 1917, the Association signed a promissory note to purchase the property, and operated it until the eve of Prohibition, when it was sold to Paul Garrett of Virginia Dare fame. In 1921, Tarpey retrieved his winery. Following his death in 1925, son Arthur began to make sacramental wine, and for a time, following Repeal, young Tarpey greatly increased the output at the winery. Subsequently, La Paloma continued large-scale operations under Italian-Swiss-Colony, National Distillers, and United Vintners. In 2015, unused and an eyesore, most of the buildings of La Paloma were demolished.
La Paloma Winery, Italian Swiss Colony, Clovis
A Beautiful c1930s Label For La Paloma (The Dove)
Balfe Ranch, Clovis – Over 19,000 Grape Vines And 10,000 Fruit Trees – c1930s
Harry Balfe (1860-1944) was a wealthy New York financier and president of Austin, Nichols & Co, the world’s largest wholesale grocery business. In 1919 he purchased 760 acres just northeast of Clovis from the Roeding family, prominent early winegrowers and nurserymen. Balfe invested over one million dollars to build his “garden spot in the desert,” an estate featuring a Spanish style seven-room home, five guest houses, private air strip, thoroughbred horse center and race track, vineyards and orchards — a mecca for visitors from all parts of the world. Balfe fancied terraced fish ponds, an aviary filled with pheasants, 400 rose bushes and a eucalyptus grove. The ranch, once barren land, also included every variety of fruit and other products commercially profitable in central California — planted by the thousands were peach, apricot, and almond trees, 90,000 Muscat grape vines and 20,000 Thompson Seedless grape vines. His wine cellar was filled with 50-gallon barrels of Muscat he made on the property. In 1939 Harry Balfe and his wife sold the ranch to movie star “cowboy” Victor McLaglen, and moved to La Jolla near San Diego where he died several years later. A most unusual wineman.
