Valley of the Moon. When we who live here see the moon rising over the Mayacmas Mountains, we understand why the Indian tribes thought there were many moons in the Valley. Standing out with surprising bigness, apparently never twice in the same place, the moon appears and disappears behind the different peaks, or it may come from behind a clump of trees or over a large live oak, but seemingly, always from a different direction. The Valley of the Moon is not large. It measures about 10 miles across its base in the south at Sonoma City, bordering San Pablo Bay. Triangular in shape, the distance to the apex to the north near Santa Rosa is about 15 miles. This valley of rich variety provides our country with some of its very best grapes and extra-fine wines. — Gen. Hap Arnold, Ret., Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces, from his Valley of the Moon ranch, 1948
Hood Mountain In Valley Of The Moon Wine Country
In 1889, early California author and wine booster Frona Wait — in her book Wines & Vines of California, celebrated as the first book written distinctly for the consumer — wrote that the Valley of the Moon was “the heart of the wine section of Sonoma County…the hills for miles on both sides of the valley are clad with vines…the district exports over half a million gallons of wine yearly.” Located at the top of the valley was the vast 18,000-acre Los Guilicos Rancho of William Hood, a Scotsman who had acquired it in 1849 and gave his name to the prominent peak overlooking his land.
Hood Mansion, Los Guilicos, Valley Of The Moon Built 1858
When this postcard photo was taken in the 1930s, Hood Mansion was the property of the Knights of Pythias, purchased in 1924, and their “Pythian Home-Administration Bldg.” Consequently, the daunting misleading caption for Sonoma Co. wine postcard researchers! William Hood (1818–1903) built the handsome 2-story, 20-plus-room home for his young bride Eliza Shaw Hood (1841–1914) using bricks fired on the ranch. They soon planted an extensive vineyard and fruit orchards surrounding the home. Today the house is still standing, honored as the oldest brick structure in Sonoma Co. and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1974 the property has been owned by the County.
Hood Winery, Los Guilicos Rancho, Valley Of The Moon, Est.1861, c1930
A genuine treasure! Until this photo postcard, I had never seen an image of this historic and distinguished early California winery whose story I clearly cherished. (Even photographer Patterson realized the importance of the image and perfectly framed the old stone winery with the peak of Hood Mountain as background.) In 1861, the mansion completed and 230 acres of vines planted (mainly Mission grapes, but later replaced by Zinfandel, Cabernet, Riesling and other fine varieties), Hood constructed this substantial 3-story, 250,000-gallon-capacity winery from sandstone quarried nearby. Near the cellar, and across the creek, a distillery was built. Wine historian Wait recorded in her book that “Los Guilicos had long been famous for both wine and brandy of superior quality.” After William became ill in 1877, Eliza was declared in 1880 a sole trader by the Superior Court of Sonoma Co. and secured her legal authority to run the ranch independently. She maintained both vineyard and winery and, under the able direction of her Burgundian cellarmaster August Drioton (1834–1910), produced some of California’s most notable wines, including a fine Riesling. Sadly, through much history, while the home remains, the landmark winery, whose roof collapsed in 1948 and left the outer walls intact but unprotected, is now gone. In mid-1895 and in financial straits after several years of severe frosts and the devastating phylloxera invasion, the property was sold and Eliza moved to her longtime San Francisco California Street winter home to become a “Hotel Proprietress” until her death in 1914. [Peninou/Unzelman, History of Sonoma Viti District]
Stone Bridge on Warm Springs Rd., near Kenwood, Valley of the Moon, 1908.
South Los Guilicos Station, which served Hood Ranch and Winery and the only stone Southern Pacific R.R. Depot in the Valley of the Moon, was built in 1887 of locally quarried pink and gray stone. In 1895 Los Guilicos became Kenwood, along with the rest of the village. This quality 1908 postcard view of a nearby stone bridge along the main valley route for transporting grapes and wines, is a gallant 19th century old-timer whose sides are beginning to crumble and tumble while he reminisces over his major role in the early years of Los Guilicos-Kenwood-Valley of the Moon wine history.
Kirkwood Hotel On Main Street, Kenwood, Valley Of The Moon, c1908
This quite rare historical gem pictures Hotel Kirkwood, the first hotel and center of activity in the early days of Los Guilicos–Kenwood. Built in 1887 by the Sonoma Land & Improvement Co. on the corner of Los Guilicos and Rhorer (later Warm Springs) avenues, across from the Town Plaza, it had forty-five rooms on the second floor with fine accommodations for those coming up from the Bay Area to buy land lots in the newly surveyed town, workers from the local quarries, railroad employees, and visiting vintners. The ground floor housed the Town Hall, the post office, a general store, and a drugstore with a doctor.
Wildwood Vineyards & Winery, Near Glen Ellen, Valley Of The Moon, c1918
An old, browned postcard, with a simple hand-written caption, preserves one of California’s most stunningly beautiful, premiere winegrowing estates one might ever see. James Shaw (1837–1918) established this Valley of the Moon wonder in the 1860s, a near neighbor of the Hoods and older brother to Eliza Hood. Australian-born Shaw, well-acquainted with Hood from earlier adventures round the world, came to Sonoma Co. in 1850 to oversee Hood’s vast Los Guilicos Rancho. In 1867, he purchased a large parcel of the ranch, planted fruit trees and grapevines, raised cattle, and built a wine cellar. By 1885, as Frona Wait reported, Shaw had planted 125 acres “on the ridge, a location unrivaled in the valley” to the noble varieties Riesling, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon. He retired from farming and wine growing in his mid-60s and devoted the remainder of his life to mining, his death occurring in Durango, Mexico. In 1904, Louis Kunde, who had been growing grapes near Windsor and Geyserville since 1884, purchased this splendid property. The honored Kunde family remains a dynamic force and inspiring presence in Sonoma Co. agriculture, whether it be cattle, vine cuttings, sowing thousands of spring bulbs along the Redwood Highway, or growing and crafting prize-winning wines. This postcard is truly a cherished treasure — for its connection to the 19th-century Valley of the Moon wine pioneers and the beloved Kundes. I have never seen another copy.
Beltane Ranch, Near Glen Ellen, Valley Of The Moon, Built 1892
The historic home pictured here in the shadow of Hood Mountain, framed inside its classic 19th-century stone wall prominent throughout the valley, is Chapter 2 of a favorite wine country story. A close neighbor of Wildwood Vineyard and just north of the village of Glen Ellen, this Hwy 12 (originally County Road) property was originally settled in 1878 by John Hamilton Drummond, who purchased some 1,000 acres from Hood’s Los Guilicos ranch. He planted his 150-acre Dunfillan Vineyard with cuttings from the famous vineyards “Ch. Lafitte, Ch. Margaux, Hermitage” and built a substantial stone wine cellar. It was reported in 1883 that the “enthusiastic vigneron” had imported over 300 grape varieties during the previous two years. Drummond, his vines, and wines were given extensive praise by historian Frona Wait, who proclaimed his “vineyard one of the finest in America.” By 1889, over thirty diplomas and awards graced his cellar walls. At the end of the year, the untimely death of this progressive wine leader of Sonoma Co., only forty years of age, brought an end to winemaking at Dunfillan. In 1893, the vineyard almost completely ravaged by phylloxera, Mrs. Theresa Bell, of Mammy Pleasant San Francisco fame, was listed as the property owner and had 75 acres in vines, all infested. Modern history has replanted the vineyards to fine grapes surrounding the historic home, now a celebrated “B & B” in the Valley of the Moon.
Kohler & Frohling Tokay Vineyard, Later London Ranch, Glen Ellen
Two wine country histories are attached to this important c1940 photo postcard. At middle-left are the stark ruins of the old Kohler & Frohling stone wine cellar and its arched doorway surrounded by Jack London’s “Beauty Ranch.” Kohler & Frohling designated California’s “Pioneer Wine House,” was established in 1854 by Charles Kohler and John Frohling with facilities in Los Angeles and San Francisco. By 1874, when it became clear the future of high- quality California wine rested on the fine wine grapes grown in northern California’s cooler regions, the firm purchased land in the Valley of the Moon above Glen Ellen. They enlarged the existing small Tokay Vineyard to 350 acres of prime varieties across the rolling hills, and constructed a new 250,00-gallon stone winery. By the 1880s a distillery, sherry house, and cooper shop were added, all expertly made by Chinese stonemasons. The operation thrived until the great quake of 1906, when the winery was badly damaged and closed down. In 1910 this glorious chunk of wine country became the heart of the ranch and home of novelist adventurer Jack London. In 1913 he wrote a novel titled “Valley of the Moon.” Not much of a vineyardist, London raised cattle, prize pigs, and spineless cactus, among other endeavors. On this prime wine country site, the vines have returned and the land is preserved through the Jack London State Historic Park.
Stuart Wine Cellar, Glen Ellen, c.1970. Established 1859
In 1849, Valley of the Moon wine pioneer Charles Stuart (1819–1880) came west across the Plains from his native Pennsylvania as captain of a pack-mule train. He settled in San Francisco, built a lovely home for a growing family, and invested in real estate which brought considerable wealth. In 1859 Stuart purchased a 250-acre parcel in the Valley of the Moon that he named “Glen Ellen” in honor of his wife. He planted a forty-acre vineyard, built a sizeable wine cellar, and made substantial improvements all around, including one of the finest homes in the valley. When the village of Glen Ellen was assigned a post office in 1870, the ranch and winery were renamed Glen Oaks. After Stuart died in 1880, his widow Ellen, perhaps influenced by her immediate neighbor Kate Warfield, kept things going at the ranch, growing grapes and running a winery operation that had become one of the largest in the state. In 1896, when the phylloxera epidemic wiped out two-thirds of the vines in the Valley of the Moon and elsewhere, Ellen Stuart (1819–1907), now almost eighty, sold the Glen Oaks property to a family who were happy to farm the beautiful piece of land. Planting new vineyards would wait.
Warfield Ten Oaks Wine Cellar, Glen Ellen, c1990. Established c1862.
In 1862, Charles Stuart sold 130 acres of his Valley of the Moon land holdings to his friend Dr. Jacob Warfield (1819–1878). On the gently rising hillsides Warfield planted thirty acres to wine grapes, built his Ten Oaks Winery, and soon joined his fellow outstanding winegrowers in the area that boasted some of the finest vineyards and experienced vineyardists in the county. Two years after arriving in Glen Ellen, Dr. Warfield married Catherine “Kate” Overton (1846–1892), who quickly became involved in farming the land, tending the grapes, and handling vintages of 250,000 gallons. Following her husband’s death in 1878, Kate Warfield increased the vineyard acreage to eighty acres while, in recognition of her knowledge of viticulture, the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners appointed her “inspectress” of the district. She was not hesitant to replace phylloxera-infected vines with resistant rootstock grafts. Her “model cellars” produced award-winning wines ranging from Riesling to brandy. At the 1886 Mechanics Fair, she was applauded for the “finest collection of grapes ever shown in the Fair,” in all, forty-eight varieties, including “Cabernet Sauvignon from the Ch. Margaux, Petite Sirah from the Hermitage …” (One can sense the kindred spirit between Valley of the Moon vineyardists.) Kate Warfield, “a skillful viticulturist and wine maker,” her wines “simply unexcelled,” was deemed “one of the most remarkable figures in the California wine industry.” She passed away during the flu epidemic in January 1892. [P.W.S.R. Feb 1892].
There is an inexplicable feeling when the stories of the pioneer winegrowers in the Valley of the Moon are considered. Is it the magic of the valley … the close connections of the winegrowers … their dedication to the valley’s vines and wines … or perhaps, early postcards that have captured an invaluable historical time otherwise gone…?
