MOST PEOPLE DO NOT automatically connect winegrowing with Contra Costa County in the East Bay region of San Francisco Bay like they might do with Napa or Sonoma counties. But there is fine wine history here, and some lovely postcard views and stories to highlight and preserve it. Grapes and wine loomed large in the landscape beginning in the early 1850s. Interestingly, in 1856 Napa County recorded 33 acres in grape acreage. Contra Costa County had 110 acres; in 1860 seven wineries produced some 2300 gallons of wine. At the time of the 1912 postcard below, the vineyard acreage was 8175 acres, and by 1916, just before Prohibition, wine acreage had grown to 8895 acres. Sadly, the Dry years and urban growth set the total acres in the 1970s at 900 acres, and dropping.
Vineyards Of The West, Contra Costa County, 1912
This 1912 booster postcard for the upcoming 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition promotes the wondrous opportunities awaiting home-seekers in the Golden State, extolling the vineyards of Contra Costa County that rank among the best, yielding a fortune every year, and easily within the financial reach of the average farmer.
![Del Hambra Vineyard [Alhambra], Martinez, c1905](https://i0.wp.com/winehistoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Del-Hambra-Vineyard-Alhambra-Martinez-c1905.jpg?resize=384%2C240&ssl=1 "Del Hambra Vineyard [Alhambra], Martinez, c1905")
Del Hambra Vineyard [Alhambra], Martinez, c1905.
In 1849, the hub of Contra Costa’s viticultural wonderland was the town of Martinez and its rich Alhambra Valley soils. In the early 1850s, among the first to plant vineyards here was the prominent horticulturist and physician Dr. John Strentzel, who planted some 10,000 vines covering nine acres along Alhambra Creek. An avid experimenter with his fruit trees and grape vines, he discarded the historic Mission grape and ordered prime varieties from Europe. In 1863 his White Still Wine won a coveted Silver Cup at the State Fair. Above, an early, very rare, browned vintage RPPC (real-photo postcard) shows Strentzel’s “Del Hambra Vineyard” before his wife re-christened the creek and its valley Alhambra. A short story: Alhambra Valley and its creek take their name from Cañada del Hambre, Spanish for “Valley of Hunger,” as it appeared on the 1842 land grant. Mrs. Strentzel did not favor the name and changed it to Alhambra. The postcard was written to “Soldier Boy, If the fruit is good, write and tell me so. Here’s to good luck. E. B. Barber, Martinez.” The pioneer Barber family were neighbors of Strentzel and had planted a sizeable vineyard in 1858. A cherished postcard with a priceless wine country connection.
Alhambra Valley, Near Martinez, c1910
A treasured favorite wine country postcard beautifully illustrates our story … an inspiration, really. It is a dramatic historical portrait of fruitful Alhambra Valley crisscrossed with vineyards and orchards, its picturesque railroad trestle passing through, and a glimpse of San Francisco Bay in the distance. The Alhambra Trestle (or Muir Trestle or Santa Fe Railway Viaduct) was built in 1899 and passed along the southern edge of the Strentzel/Muir property. It is a magnificent structure of iron and steel, 1680′ long and 75′ tall. Today, sans vineyards, it crosses the Valley just south of Highway 4. There is something about train trestles (along with the early stone bridges of Napa Valley) that are architecturally quite exciting — especially with such stunning backgrounds.
Strentzel/Muir Vineyard And Santa Fe Viaduct, Martinez, 1908
By 1880 Dr. Strentzel could report that he had 5,000 acres of improved land, with 40 acres in vineyard, and 800 gallons of wine in his cellar. Notably, his wines were never sold commercially; he was a true “amateur” with a keen experimental interest in winegrowing. Also noteworthy in 1880, Strentzel gained a son-in-law when his daughter Louie married the famed naturalist-conservationist John Muir, whom she had met six years before when he was “passing through” on one of his many wilderness travels. Within two years John Muir purchased nearby property, became a rancher and planted 30 acres to Tokay, Muscat and Zinfandel grapes. In this 1908 postcard view, the roof-top of Dr. Strentzel’s 19th century barn is seen peeking-out from behind the foreground hill. Many stories are told of the Muir children and their love affair with the trestle and its trains that passed-by close enough to wave to the engineer from their nearby home.
Strentzel / Muir Home, Built 1882
With the death of Dr. Strentzel in 1890, John Muir and his wife moved into the 3-story, 14-room mansion constructed by the doctor several years earlier on a prominent knoll overlooking his vineyards and orchards. Today this is the John Muir National Historic Site, encompassing a 325-acre oak woodland and grassland owned by the Muir family.
Christian Bros. Novitiate & Normal School, Martinez, c1910
It was also in Martinez that one of California’s most famous wineries, Christian Brothers, entered the wine industry. In 1879, the teaching order of laymen purchased 70 acres south of the courthouse, near the entrance to the Alhambra Valley, for the site of their Novitiate & Normal School. As some of the land had already been planted to orchard and vineyard, the Brothers continued to cultivate the land, and built a winery to crush the crop from their vineyard, which had grown to 35 acres by 1890. But the town also continued to grow and ultimately forced the Brothers’ move in 1931 to the old Gier Winery estate on Mt. Veeder in Napa Valley. Here, amongst 165 acres of forest and 180 acres of vineyard and a fine winery, the Christian Bros. prospered. In 1950 they purchased the magnificent, castle-like Greystone Wine Cellar in the valley below. And the rest is storied history!
City Of Martinez And Harbor, 1908
The city of Martinez and its excellent harbor, where the Alhambra flows into the Carquinez Strait, became an important shipping port for the area’s agricultural products, including wheat, fruits, grapes, and wine. John Strentzel’s dock is shown left center in this 1908 postcard view, where ships often waited offshore to load and unload their cargoes. With the completion of the Santa Fe Viaduct in 1899, the railroad lines provided a route from the great San Joaquin Valley to Richmond through Martinez. It is likely these lines would have been of great benefit to the California Wine Association at Winehaven.
Winehaven, Near Pt. Richmond, c1906
Around the point from Martinez through San Pablo Bay and around another point on the shores of San Francisco Bay was Contra Costa County’s largest wine facility, Winehaven, a company town built for wine. The mammoth wine plant was constructed in 1906 by the California Wine Assn. to be their new home following the destruction of their San Francisco wine depots during the great quake and fire, where they lost millions of gallons of wine and invaluable cooperage. Winehaven had a ten million-gallon wine storage cellar, while the fermenting cellar could easily handle 25,000 tons of grapes at harvest. The giant Association, founded in 1894, owned some 50 wineries around the State and controlled over 85 percent of California’s wine. At Winehaven, the C.W.A. was able to transport tons of grapes and thousands of barrels of wine by railcar or sea-going ships. It would maintain the distinction as the largest winemaking plant in the world until Prohibition came in 1920. [See “FromS.F. Earthquake to Winehaven” (Feb 2024) for more on the story.]
With a note of yhanks to these fine references:
James Carroll, The Winemakers of Martinez, 1985.
Peninou & G. Unzelman, History of Napa Viticultural District: Counties of Napa … Contra Costa, 2004 [online].
California Wine Association & Its Member Wineries 1894–1920, 2000.
