Arriving in California in 1852 from his home state of New York, Leland Stanford (1824–1893) was an attorney, storekeeper, Justice of the Peace, organizer of the Sacramento Library Association, industrialist, and philanthropist. He established a major University, was a Republican Party politician, 8th Governor of California, one of the “Big Four” who built the transcontinental railroad, and U. S. Senator from 1885 until his death in 1893. He also founded three California wineries.
Old Mission Peak And Warm Springs, Cal, 1909
As historian Chas Sullivan concisely wrote in his indispensable Companion to California Wine (1998), “Winegrowing was never Stanford’s chief interest, but from 1869 until his death, it was always an important sideline.” That year Leland Stanford purchased his first winery, the pioneer winery of Frenchman Clement Colombet in the Warm Springs district, near Mission San José in Santa Clara Valley. Colombet had been in California since 1844 when he settled in the area in the 1850s and established an 85-acre vineyard and sizable winery (foreground), and a large resort hotel (in the trees, rear). Stanford placed the operation under the management of his brother Josiah Stanford, who expanded the vineyard to 350 acres and the winery to a 500,000-gallon capacity. In 1886 Leland deeded the estate to Josiah. It is noted the Warm Springs Vineyard wines, especially the whites, had a particularly good reputation.
Mission San José de Guadalupe, Near Warm Springs, c1908, Built 1797
At Warm Springs, some three miles south of the old Mission, there have been accountable vineyards since 1851 when Colombet purchased the 9,500-acre Agua Caliente Rancho, and became the pioneer commercial winegrower in this favored area. From one of his first vintages in 1856, he received a premium for his claret, the first award ever given for a California wine. For this dedicated early wineman, it would not be his last as he saw the Warm Springs area develop into the center of one of California’s greatest early winegrowing districts.
Leland Stanford “Old Barn” Winery, Palo Alto Farm, c1961
The second of Leland Stanford’s wine ventures began in 1876 when he acquired almost 600 acres of the San Francisquito Rancho on the west side of El Camino Real in Menlo Park and another 1200 acres to the south and west into the hills. On land that would become Stanford University in 1885, he established 160 acres of red wine varieties “of no great distinction” – Trousseau, Charbono, Mataro, and Zinfandel – “but also some Riesling.” [Peninou, S.F. Viti District; Sacramento Viti District, online] By the time the vines were bearing in 1888 Stanford commissioned the noted winery architect, Hamden McIntyre (who had just completed the buildings at Stanford’s great Vina Ranch project), to build a large brick winery, with walls two feet thick and fitted with giant redwood tanks. The winery annually crushed an average of over 600 tons and bottled some notable varietal wines under the Palo Alto Vineyard label, which depicted the familiar tall redwood.
Famous “El Palo Alto” Redwood, San Francisquito Creek, c1909
The historic tree, Leland Stanford’s inspiration for the logos of both his wine company and University, is over a thousand years old and marks the sites of the earliest travelers on existent maps. After Stanford’s death in 1893, the vineyard and winery came under the control of the University trustees until the vines were uprooted in 1915. The last vintage was produced in 1905 when the wine operation was closed down by the University’s teetotaling President David Starr Jordan. The winery has survived, preserving McIntyre’s original architectural design, while serving as a barn for dairy herds, a student dormitory, and a shopping complex in the 1960s. Although Leland Stanford insisted on a Dry environment for his University, he maintained liberal views on wine-drinking. “If I believed the use of wine was hurtful to the human race, I would pull up every vine I have.”
Prologue To Stanford At Vina
This 1868 Gerke wine label, a rare treasure from historian Ernest Peninou’s collection, is honored to bring us the background story of Vina. Peter Lassen, awarded in 1843 the Bosquejo Rancho land grant in the vast upper reaches of Sacramento Valley near Red Bluf, was the area’s first settler and winegrower. German immigrant Henry Gerke purchased a large portion of the rancho in 1851 and developed Lassen’s one-acre of Mission vines into the region’s biggest vineyard and established the largest commercial winery, a 300,000-gallon capacity facility north of Sacramento. His sweet wines and brandy, even his table wines, enjoyed a good reputation — a remarkable feat in the almost-desert conditions. Leland Stanford bought the Gerke operation in 1881 and began creating Vina, named in honor of Gerke’s vines. With this purchase, Stanford’s endeavors in winegrowing began in earnest, and left an indelible mark on the history of winemaking in California. P.S. Most of our great Vina Ranch story is borrowed from Mr Peninou’s in-depth history, online as noted previously, and in book form, Leland Stanford’s Great Vina Ranch 1881–1919, 1991.
Leland Stanford: Senator, Governor, Winegrower, 1890
At Vina in 1881, “The old vineyard had gone to waste, the fences were down, houses dilapidated, and there were no provisions for irrigation.” By early the next year, an elaborate irrigation system was completed, including two miles of ditches eight feet deep, fifteen feet wide at the bottom, and the vineyard expanded by 1200 acres. In 1883 another 1500 acres were set to vines; his total land acreage climbed to 20,000 acres. While employing a considerable number of Chinese laborers, many of Stanford’s winery workers were young men brought from France. Leland Stanford had embarked on the largest winegrowing venture ever undertaken by an individual in California, and it was done in a precise and efficient manner. The tremendous expansion program that Vina Ranch was to undergo during the next few years was in no small part due to the establishment of the University in Palo Alto. Stanford intended the revenues from his giant wine operation to be used in support of the college.
Vina Ranch And Winery, c1886
In 1886 the vineyard covered 2800 acres, all but 1000 acres full-bearing, and produced enough grapes for 300,000 gallons of wine and 40,000 gallons of brandy. Familiar winery architect Hamden McIntyre, was commissioned to design and supervise the construction of a wine facility befitting the largest vineyard in the world. The new cellar covered two-and-a-half acres, required 2.4 million bricks, and at a cost of $155,000 was the largest wine cellar in the world, with a capacity of two million gallons. The great wine cellar held 500 two-thousand-gallon casks and four hundred-sixteen 100-hundred-gallon barrels. A two-story brick addition was made to the existing frame winery, creating a new fermenting and crushing house. George Johnson was named the first winemaker at Vina. By 1890, the vineyard had reached its greatest dimensions, 3,825 acres, and the winery its maximum growth.
In The Largest Wine Cellar In The World, Stanford Ranch, Vina, 1908
This very handsome hand-colored postcard brings the viewer a close-up tour of one of the “aisles” in the gigantic cellars. East of the fermenting house, a two-story brick distillery, with all of the latest improvements and two stills, was erected with a running capacity of 2000 gallons of brandy every twenty-four hours. By 1890 Vina produced twenty percent of all the brandy made in California, while it gained an early, very fine reputation. In a tidy row across the courtyard from the winery was the Bonded Warehouse, ten individual brick and iron “vaults” built to store one million gallons of Pure Grape Brandy.
Vina. Engine Rooms, Tanks Furnishing The Motive Power, 1909
The hot summers of Vina would never produce fine table wines as Stanford had hoped. During his sixth year at the Ranch, Stanford changed his output entirely from table wines to brandy. He imported several thousand cuttings from the Cognac district, grafted them on his vines, and installed a deluxe French still. His proud brandy product was declared similar to French Cognac. The following year, a vintage of 1,700,000 gallons of wine was all turned into brandy, one fifth of all the brandy produced in California. As the above postcard showing us one small area of the winery complex reveals, Vina was the Largest Grape Crushing Plant and Winery in the World.
Billhead: Vina Winery & Distillery. Palo Alto Winery, c1894
This beautifully engraved invoice displays the trade mark Palo Alto tree (with a train running by) and bottles of “Leland Stanford’s Grape Brandy. Vina Vineyard. Bottled at the Distillery. It’s Pure! – That’s Sure!” Until this date Vina brandy was sold only in wood barrels; thereafter it was promoted as bottled especially for the pharmaceutical, family, and club trade. Artistically produced, brightly colored posters were distributed to be prominently displayed, and San Francisco cable cars advertised “Vina Brandy. It’s Pure! – That’s Sure!”
Stanford “Ranch House” At Vina, Built 1883
When Stanford was elected Senator of California in 1885 and Congress was not in session, he and Mrs. Stanford would pay occasional visits to “The Great Vina Ranch.” The famous Stanford private railcar would be backed onto the spur track and remained there during the three- to four-day inspection tour. The Stanfords and their guests would stay in the spacious two-story, beautifully landscaped ranch house. In addition to his well-received brandy, Vina was lauded in early 1894 for producing a Pure California Port, sold only in bottles and guaranteed to be over eleven years old, its purity unquestionable. Sen. Stanford enjoyed serving a glass to his guests. He was a popular overseer and the workers all around the immense facility welcomed his visits.
Post Office Corner, Vina, c1910
Leland Stanford died in 1893. In 1908 there were still 2000 acres in vineyard and an annual vintage of one million gallons of wine and brandy. In 1915 just prior to the vintage, the fermenting house burned down and the trustees were obliged to sell the crop on eastern markets. Since the University yet endured criticism from some circles for deriving revenue from making brandy, the trustees decided not to rebuild. The following year, the remaining 2000 acres in vines were pulled out (the vines at Palo Alto had been yanked in 1915). In 1919, immediately before the onset of Prohibition, Vina Ranch was subdivided and sold off. The end of the winery and vineyard also brought the end of the town of Vina. The village had grown with the ranch from a population of 93 in 1880 to 232 ten years later. At its height Vina had a population of 1,300 and boasted two hotels and five saloons. Our postcard’s hand-written message is spot-on: “Dear Cousin Cora, You can tell by this post office corner about what Vina looks like. The business section is continuous on this street only; excepting a store and a hotel and livery stable by the railroad station. There is a Chinatown too. I wish you were here. You’d call it dull. Your Friend and Cousin, Lillie.” Wonder if Lillie knew the story.
EPILOGUE
Since 1995 the heart of “The Great Vina Ranch,” some 600 acres, is home to the Abbey of New Clairvaux, a rural Trappist monastery. The monks tend prune and walnut orchards, and replanted the vineyard in 2000. Their harvests, along with winemaking, sustain their community. The Stanford Ranch House serves as the Main Monastery Building and some of the old brick buildings from Vina’s days are sturdy wine cellars. With fifth- generation Nichelini winemaker Aimée Nichelini Sunseri, the order strives to revitalize this remarkable place. Amazing wine fact. As Leland Stanford was building Vina Ranch, Swiss-Italian immigrant Anton Nichelini was founding a legacy of his own in Napa Valley. From a modest homestead tucked against the eastern foothills, Nichelini Winery stands today as Napa’s oldest family-owned and operated winery. With her degree from U.C. Davis, Aimée is the seventh family winemaker at Nichelini and also oversees the entire grape growing and winemaking process from bud break to bottle at New Clairvaux, Vina, Cal. It was said, “Everything connected with the Vina ranch was superlative.” It still is.
