Ambitious and determined from an early age to establish a career in the California wine trade, young Hanoverian Theodore Gier (1860-1931) sailed in 1881 from his native Germany to America. Two years later he was settled in Oakland, across the Bay from San Francisco, to become one of the most successful, and powerful, wine men in pre-Prohibition California. Gier, “of slight frame and of uncommon nervous tension,” was a public-spirited and progressive citizen, a recognized business leader whose ownership interests included a bar and saloon, bank founder, real estate developer, resort owner, and city philanthropist. His huge Oakland-based wine and liquor operations, wholesale & retail, counted five locations in Oakland, along with numerous vineyards and wineries in Napa County and the Livermore Valley. In 1910 Gier incorporated as the Theodore Gier Vineyard & Wine Co., with a capitalization of two million dollars. In a few years, the company had annual sales of just over three hundred thousand gallons of wine.
Theo. Gier Wine Co., Giersberg, Napa, Cal. c1909
Shortly after Theo. Gier arrived in California he purchased his first vineyard, at Anaheim, the large winegrowing cooperative in Southern California spearheaded by wine pioneer Charles Kohler in the late 1850s. Within the year, he had sold it to begin his Northern California wine endeavors. This beautiful, hand-colored Gier Wine Co. postcard could be a composite representing his “Napa, Livermore, St. Helena” properties. The background mountain is his Napa Redwoods “Sequoia” site, the large red-roofed winery is an image of his Livermore [Pleasanton, actually] winery, and the foreground vineyard represents his St. Helena wine properties. Gier used “Giersberg” for any of his wineries, while “Giersberger” was his major label. At the time of our postcard Gier owned or leased some one thousand vineyard acres in Napa Co. and Livermore Valley — growing almost 120 different varieties for production and experimental purposes.
Gier Winery, Pleasanton, Livermore Valley. E. Peninou RPPC, 1950
In the 1880s, the Pleasanton area on the western edge of Livermore Valley, long considered fine vineyard land, was the center of the original development of commercial viticulture in the valley and home to several important pre-Prohibition wineries. Two of the largest and more important wine operations, both located on Vineyard Road a mile east of town, were John Crellin’s Ruby Hill and Jason Rose, who had personally planted over 200 acres to wine grapes by 1887. In 1898, for the sum of $18,000, Rose sold his vineyard to Theo. Gier, who renamed it Giersberger, and erected the large wooden winery seen in the view above. Three years earlier, in 1895, Gier had purchased the nearby 70-acre Dos Mesas Vineyard & Winery, founded in 1883 by Frank Fowler. He created his Giersberger brand of wines, which were marketed from a big building of twenty-six thousand square feet on 18th Street in Oakland, where the company had its general offices, salesroom, and wine cellars described as the best equipped in the State. By 1907, Gier owned nearly 500 acres near Pleasanton, producing mainly Sauterne, Burgundy, and Riesling wines, labeled under his Pride of Livermore line. Interestingly, he rarely attached the name Pleasanton to his wines.
Theo. Gier Vineyard, St. Helena, 1908
In the early 20th century, Theo. Gier extended his wine operations into the Napa Valley. Around the town of St.Helena, in 1909 Gier acquired the vintage Edge Hill Wine estate founded in 1870 by famed Union General Erasmus Keyes, and also took a lease on the nearby Sutter Home Winery. Three years earlier, Gier installed the attractive gateway to his recently acquired vineyard and winery, the sizeable old stone Robert Bergfeld Winery built in 1885. Located just south of Sutter Home, Gier planted a new vineyard of almost 160 acres to fine wine grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Until upgrades at the winery were completed, crushing took place at the Sutter Home facility. Gier’s St. Helena wines were highly thought of and won Exhibition awards in several wine categories. He continued the operation until Prohibition. Following Repeal, the Napa Valley Cooperative Winery, founded to process the Valley’s bulk wine grapes, later went into the premium wine business in the ‘80s and housed their operation in the Gier/Bergfeld Winery. Today, this beautiful wine estate, with its own stunning gateway, is home to Hall Wines. P.S. Our forever grateful thanks to St. Helena’s own postcard publisher, Joe Galewsky, for this very rare view of a piece of Theo. Gier history. See the Galewsky story posted Oct 2024.
Historic Castle Rock Winery, Napa Redwoods, Mt. Veeder, c1908
This stunning “Mountain Vineyard” postcard preserves a bird’s eye view of this vintage winegrowing paradise as it looked when Theo. Gier arrived on the mountain and brought large-scale winegrowing to the area. In January 1900, Gier purchased the 1860s Herman Hudeman farmstead in the foothills of Mt. Veeder, a few miles northwest of Napa City, locally called the Napa Redwoods. Hudeman planted a vineyard and built a modest winery; he created a small lake and operated a favored resort. Later, in financial difficulty, Hudeman sold his wine estate in 1882 to Rudolph Jordan, Sr., a local winery owner, who in turn sold it to Gier in 1900. A neighboring vineyard and winery was Castle Rock, established in 1880 by German-born Nicholas Streich and his two sons. Nicholas returned to Germany in 1889, but his eldest son, Ernest, took over the management of almost 200 acres of vineyards, producing fine, noteworthy wines. It was at Castle Rock that Rudolph Jordan Jr. worked during the vintage of 1911 to gather material for his book Quality in Dry Wines Through Adequate Fermentation, which has become a classic on the subject. This rare tome is acclaimed as the earliest record referring to cold fermentation.
Theo. Gier Sequoia Vineyard Winery & Distillery, Mt. Veeder, Built 1903
At his new wine property, Gier wasted no time in its expansion. He cleared land, planted new vineyards and constructed his impressive three-story stone wine cellar. In 1907, his Sequoia mountain vineyard covered over 400 acres and was his primary Napa County operation. By 1914, the Giersberger brands had become a standard all over the U.S., and Gier’s combined wine cellars reportedly were capable of storing one million gallons of wine. When Prohibition hit in 1920, Gier took a devastating blow. He attempted to survive with the winery making sacramental wines, but in 1930, three years before Repeal, he was forced to sell his beloved Sequoia Winery estate. Christian Brothers purchased the prime property to become their Mont La Salle estate, the site of a Novitiate, and their first Napa winery and vineyard. The beautiful mountain wine estate remains today, the old stone winery restored and serving as part of The Hess Collection, a winery and art gallery for Swiss-born owner Donald Hess, who purchased it in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, The Hess Collection issued a series of six sepia historical postcard views of the property, including this grand view of Gier’s wine cellar.
Gier’s Sequoia Winery Resort, Napa Redwoods, Mt. Veeder, c1915.
Through the years, extensive local press coverage happily indicated that Theodore Gier and his charismatic personality relished hosting any number of people at his Sequoia Winery and Resort — whether they be from the wine trade, or a German singing group from Oakland or San Francisco, or fraternal organizations, all of which Gier was a leading member. In September 1905, shortly after the wine cellar was built and fitted-out, Gier hosted a group of forty Oakland Merchants Exchange members (Gier, the president, had founded the Exchange) to spend the day at Sequoia. Arriving in Napa on the 9 o’clock train from Oakland and then bused the six or seven miles up the mountain road to Gier’s place, they were treated to “delicious snacks,” “grapes and wines” and tours of the wine cellar, followed by an “elaborate dinner” before their return to Oakland. All were quite appreciative of Gier’s earlier improvements to the winding mountain roadway. The “Prince of Entertainers” is posed front left in this postcard of a merry group arriving via the Sequoia Resort Stage. Gier’s “lavish hospitality and the beauty of his property and homes in the redwoods” was a frequent report.
A Scene at Sequoia Resort, Mt. Veeder, Napa Redwoods, 1911
This lovely unidentified cottage at Gier’s Sequoia Resort might be the Gier family home in the redwoods, or maybe the main cottage and dining hall for resort guests. Located near the wine cellar, in January 1911, the resort was advertised in the local newspaper as an “Ideal Place for Picnics and Boarders – Finest Mountain Spring Water –Lakes – Boating – Splendid Hunting & Fishing – Dancing Pavilion – New Dining Room.” Accommodations included a small hotel and cabins. Wine is not mentioned in the ad, but Gier was known and praised as a gracious host. He would have had an ample arrangement of Gier wines on the table.
A Brilliant “Giersberger Wine” Advertising Postcard, 1910.
Gier was a master at promoting his vintages. His wines were displayed at fairs and expositions throughout the U.S. and Europe, large and small, and regularly gathered high honors. Beginning at the 1st Annual St. Helena Vintage Festival in 1912, Gier was a loyal supporter and his Giersberger and Sequoia wines were a constant showpiece. About our postcard, so far only six of these colorful, themed Gier advertising postcards with a Theo. Gier Wine Co. jingle printed on the back have been found – Halloween (2 different images), 4th of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Giersberger card introducing our story. They date around 1909, 1910, and the two different Halloween cards were mailed the same day from Gier’s Oakland office to typed recipients. (Mailing list?) The two cards chosen here for our story were designed and drawn by Ellen Clapsaddle (1865–1934), the very talented and greatly admired artist/illustrator who grew to be the most prolific American greeting card and postcard artist of her era. Her postcards are avidly collected to this day, with some of her Halloween cards the most highly prized. Ours are even more cherished because they, at one time, belonged to Theo. Gier and his wine company.
4th of July, c1909. A Salute to the Wine Legacy of Theo. Gier
The last chapter of Theodore Gier’s life which ended in 1931 was not kind. Prohibition would take his wineries. And his colorful, often flamboyant antics delighted, or scandalized, the local communities and led to big problems. When World War I was on the horizon, Gier’s strong attachment to his fatherland and singing old German songs with friends in his saloon, resulted in accusations of being pro-German. Even though he denied such allegations, strongly proclaiming his American patriotism, his long-standing loyalty and civic mindedness, he suffered a painful “fall from grace.” (See Dean Walters’ in-depth biography of Gier in the Wayward Tendrils Quarterly v.23 #24, Oct 2013.) In his 1998 Companion…, wine historian Charles Sullivan writes: “Gier’s lasting contribution to the history of wine in California was his early planting of Chardonnay in the Livermore Valley which marks the site of the original Wente Chardonnay clone. It is likely, but sure proof is lacking, that Gier acquired his budwood from the Tiburcio Parrot vineyard on Spring Mountain in Napa Valley and Parrott acquired his cuttings from H. W. Crabb’s collection at To Kalon (Oakville)…………… Chardonnay was first imported by J. H. Drummond (Glen Ellen) in 1880 and appeared in Crabb’s To Kalon nursery list in 1882.”
SOURCES
Past and Present of Alameda County, California, Chicago: Clarke Publishing, 1914. Online.
Peninou, Ernest. History of Napa Viticultural District; History of San Francisco Viticultural District – Alameda Co., (1965), 2000. Online via Wayward Tendrils Quarterly.
Sullivan, Chas. Companion to California Wine, 1998.
Walters, Dean. “Theodore Gier and the Theo. Gier Wine Co.” Wayward Tendrils Quarterly, v.23, #4. Oct.2013.
Online via WTQ.
