Millionaire Finnish sea Captain Gustave Niebaum (1842–1908) had made his fortune early in the Alaska fur trade, and was solidly established in San Francisco running his Alaska Commercial Company when he purchased a Rutherford property called “Inglenook” in 1879. He added a thousand adjoining acres by 1881, and soon began planting his vineyard to premium varieties brought from France. Niebaum was a perfectionist, student, and linguist (five languages), he studied the world’s viticulture, surveyed methods of constructing and equipping wineries, and amassed an important wine library. His mission was to produce “the best California wines ever placed on the market.” As his winery was being constructed, Niebaum stated, “I have no wish to make any money out of my vineyard by producing a large quantity of wine at a cheap or moderate price. I am going to make a California wine that will be sought after by connoisseurs and will command as high a price as the famous French, German, and Spanish wines, and I am prepared to spend all the money needed to accomplish that result.”
Rutherford, Southern Pacific R.R. Depot, Looking North – c1906
When the railroad came to Napa Valley in 1868 and laid its tracks alongside the County Road (now Hwy 29), Rutherford, and its close southern neighbor Oakville, became small, but important, shipping points and wine towns mid-valley between St Helena and Yountville. Beginning in 1879, when Capt. Niebaum founded Inglenook, Rutherford has been home to prized winery landmarks, including nearby Valley View Winery (1885), which became Beaulieu in 1915 (hidden behind the waiting train). The background silo north of the depot belonged to French-American Wine Co., founded in 1884.
Niebaum Ranch And Mount St. John, Rutherford – c1907
This remarkable, very early postcard image of the Niebaum Ranch was produced by James Bardell, one of San Francisco’s most talented black/white photo postcard publishers. His wine country work is masterful, capturing otherwise forgotten historic scenes, such as this one at Inglenook, described in 1891: “A drive of about 400 yards through a beautiful lane of almond and walnut trees brings the visitor to the handsome stone wine cellar and winery. We pass vineyards, surrounding lawns and gardens, hot-houses, poultry-yards, and the like, but the wine cellar is the chief attraction [hidden amongst the trees].”
Niebaum Winery, Near St. Helena – c1907
“Inglenook” was founded in 1871 by William C. Watson, officer of the Bank of Napa and son-in-law of pioneer Napa Valley settler George Yount. Watson purchased this piece of land extending into the foothills west of Rutherford, planted a seventy-five-acre vineyard, and developed a pretty estate that served for a time as a resort and sanitarium. Gustave Niebaum acquired the property in 1879 and had most of his 300-acre vineyard planted to fine wine grapes by 1884. Several years earlier, Niebaum had brought Hamden McIntyre (1835-1909) to Napa Valley to be general manager of Inglenook. McIntyre, a highly regarded mechanical engineer, had worked with Niebaum in the Alaska Company for many years. In 1886, he designed and directed the construction of Niebaum’s grand “Old World” winery structure, which would take six years to complete. McIntyre was not new to the wine world. He had a solid knowledge of viticulture and enology from his past work at Pleasant Valley Winery in upper New York state, preceding Alaska Co. Today, we honor his permanent contributions to California wine history with the many splendid wineries he designed in the 1880s, including Far Niente, Ewer & Atkinson (later Valley View, then Beaulieu), Ch. Montelena, Eshcol (now ) Trefethen. Niebaum’s Inglenook Winery is a three-story landmark of Napa Valley. Constructed of local stone throughout, 200′ x 60′ with concrete floors, and outfitted with huge fermenting tanks, 350,000 gallons of cooperage (100,000 oak, 250,000 redwood), and every modern appliance of the day to ensure strict cleanliness. Niebaum’s mantra.
Capt. Niebaum’s Sample Room, Inglenook Winery – c1960
Just inside the winery front door, to the right, is the Captain’s Sample Room, designed by Niebaum himself after the wardroom of a ship, including the railings on the shelves and special cupboards. The furnishings are antique and rich, 17th century Dutch stained glass windows, 15th century casks and steins of many sizes, heavy German carved chairs crafted in 1810 … and other Old-World treasures collected by Niebaum during his sea-faring days. In this setting, Niebaum sampled his wines with friends, wine merchants, and similar honored guests. During the days pre-Prohibition, the winery annually set aside a reserve stock of 25,000 gallons of red and white wine for aging. Visitors were encouraged to sample from these wines “to feel what joy the product of the noble vine brings into human life.” While Charles Krug Winery claims it provided the first tasting room, Niebaum’s winery sampling room remains the earliest and oldest tasting room. It is also saved on a postcard.
Inglenook Vineyard In Grape Temple. P.P.I.E., S.F. – 1915
Following the death of Gustave Niebaum in 1908, the winery was closed for three years, and then revived by his widow, Suzanne Niebaum (1849-1936), who placed the operation in the hands of John Daniel, Sr, her niece’s husband, and Hermann Lange, long associated with the Inglenook Vineyards Agency represented by B. Arnhold, the close-knit business arm of Inglenook Winery. A rare postcard from the great 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition preserves the experience of Arnhold’s famous Inglenook Winery & Vineyard. The booth made the list of “most elaborate” Wine Temple exhibits in the Food Products Palace. In the wine judging, Inglenook had twenty-two wines entered and received an award for each and every one. The back of this brilliant memento records their High Honors: Grand Prize for Old Private Stock Sherry; Medal of Honor for Sparkling Burgundy; Gold Medals for Inglenook Champagne Sec; Old Private Stock Muscat, 1903; Red Letter Claret, Medoc, 1906; and Zinfandel 1906. Niebaum had undertaken exacting measures in both vineyard and winery to merit these world-class awards. Diligent in the vineyard, he dug up and replanted to resistant rootstock many of his old European vines now infected with phylloxera, and proudly reported his grafted vines were flourishing. In the winery, he insisted on and introduced estate bottling to the California commercial wine industry while producing some 50,000 gallons of wine in the 1890s, all of it sold only in glass, bottled at the winery.
Inglenook, Great Stone Winery, est. 1879 – c1970
Idle during Prohibition, the massive winery was reopened in 1933 under the management of Carl Bundschu (1878-1947), an old hand in the wine trade from an esteemed legacy of Sonoma winegrowers. In my Inglenook postcard collection of almost 60 cards is a lovely mailing card decorated with an image of Inglenook that Carl Bundschu sent to visitors, thanking them for coming to Inglenook, “Hope you come back soon.” During his six-years managing the winery, Bundschu hired a talented cellar staff and quickly brought Inglenook back to its former fame. Upon the death of Niebaum’s widow in 1936, the estate passed on to John Daniel, Jr., who had mentored under Bundschu. In 1939, under Daniel’s leadership, the winery produced a Cabernet Sauvignon that helped Napa Valley reclaim its pre-Prohibition status as a center of fine wine production. At the Golden Gate International Exposition that year, Inglenook wines won more awards than any other California winery.
Inglenook Winery, One-Hundred Gallon Oak Cask, Carved 1537 – 1933
In October 1933, in a promotional celebration of Repeal, the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce and the Redwood Empire Association sponsored a tour of Napa Valley wineries for invited wine press and their cameramen. At Inglenook, from St. Helena’s own wine family, Miss Helen Wheeler posed beside the winery’s prized ancient oak cask, while she poured a glass of vintage red wine with help from an antique basket cradle. Richly carved in 1537 by the Brothers of the Old World Monastery, the unique cask was not merely ornamental in the 1940s, but was still used to mature delicate white wines. (Another outstanding card from this date features the ancient carved wooden pitchers and buckets shown previously in the “Niebaum’s Sample Room, c1960” color postcard.)
Fermenting Room At Inglenook Winery – c1940s
This most unusual, cleverly-set-up, real-photo wine postcard illustrates, as the back caption tells us, “Steps in red wine fermentation, reading clockwise from the man in the tank [second tank from right front]: (1) cleaning, (2) filling, (3) active fermentation, (4) cooling must, (5) punching the cap, (6) checking temperature and sugar of must. ‘Cleanliness and precision’ are the watchwords at Inglenook.” The card is No.3 of a superb set of four similar real-photo postcards. Card No.1 is a close-up image of the famous Inglenook “Carved Oak Cask over 400 years old … carved 1537…” No.2 features a view of “Part of Inglenook Vineyard nestling in the Foothills … planted on light gravelly soils …” No.4 is “Sample Room at Inglenook Winery … a store of treasures …” Noteworthy, these special postcard views were not used for any other Inglenook postcards.
Inglenook Cellars As They Appear In Winter – c1930s
The Niebaum–John Daniel era ended in 1964 when Daniel sold Inglenook – the winery, its brand name, and 100 acres of vineyard – to the corporate world via United Vintners, to be acquired by Heublein in 1969. By the 1980s, Inglenook’s brand had lost its luster for American wine consumers. By 1992, Inglenook no longer had a working winery in the Napa Valley, and in 1994, Heublein sold the brand to Canandaigua. In the mid-1990s, the giant firm was selling about six-and-a-half million cases of Central Valley wine under the Inglenook brand name.
Niebaum–Coppola Estate, Rutherford – c1994
In 1975, the great man of the arts, Francis Ford Coppola, and his wife, Eleanor, purchased from the estate the historic Gustave Niebaum home, a few other close-by vintage buildings, including the Niebaum carriage house, and the adjacent 85-acre vineyard. A few years later, they bonded the carriage house and began making an estate wine they called Rubicon. Coppola’s vision was to restore the estate’s revered legacy and reunite all of the Inglenook land. In the meantime, in the 1980s, Heublein – never to be forgiven – built a huge barrel-aging facility in front of the beloved vinous landmark of Napa Valley. The winery sat inactive for a period, but in 1994, Coppola bought it from Heublein, and reconnected the old Inglenook Estate, now called Niebaum – Coppola Estate Winery. Coppola’s first improvement was to demolish the barrel-aging monstrosity and install a new aging cellar underground. In 2011, the Coppola family acquired the Inglenook name and trademark, and Philippe Bascaules of Chateau Mârgaux became Director of Winemaking at Inglenook. A wonderful wine country story.
References
Leon Adams, The Vine in Early California. No.1. Inglenook. Book Club of California, 1955.
Chas. Sullivan, Companion to California Wine, 1998. The Illustrated American, August 1891.
The Illustrated American, August 1891.
