I have recently received feedback and suggestions from fellow travelers and other writers in the cosmic blogosphere, urging me and imploring me to “lighten up” my blog posts a pinch. Since I enjoy writing & speaking about quirky, idiosyncratic people, places & things, I will take steps towards more levity. In presenting my joys of living in the Golden State, I commence with “The Spot On Lite!”

Historian Thomas Pinney wrote extensively about Southern California wine history in his book, “The City of Vines: A History of Wine in Los Angeles. One of his opening remarks is, “For most of the19th century, California Wine meant Los Angeles Wine.”

In Stuart Douglass Byles’ book, “Los Angeles Wine: A History from the Mission Era to the Present,” Byles presents the following geographic & historical context of downtown LA. He suggested that If you were standing on the corner of First Street and N. Vignes Street where the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple stands today, you would find yourself surrounded by acres of lush vineyards and thriving fruit & vegetable patches, separated by fenced lanes dotted by willow trees.

The winding, willow-shaded Los Angeles River would have stood off in the distance to the east. And, looking upward at the area east of the LA River in Boyle Heights, one would encounter green space equally endowed with vineyards and lush vegetable plots. The greenery ran all the way up to the dusty plains east and south of the small town of Los Angeles to the west.

The only large downtown tree visible in those days was the great sycamore known as “el Aliso” growing on the site of Jean-Louis Vignes’ El Aliso Vineyards. His arrival in 1831 marked the beginnings of a nascent, but rapidly growing wine industry in California.

Numerous streets in the city bear viticultural forbearers’ names. From Vignes Street to Keller & Mateo Streets, Wilson Street, Hoover Street, Mesnager Street, Bauchet Street, Kohler, and Sansevain Streets, these vignerons from Ireland, France, Germany, and the American West set the stage for today’s extensive wine industry & holdings in Eureka Country.

In 1837, French immigrant Vignes opened his winery on the land near present-day Union Station surrounding “El Aliso,” building his cellar in the tree’s shade and naming his winemaking operations in the ancient sycamore’s honor. At its peak, El Aliso Vineyard was producing nearly 150,000 bottles of French-style wines each year. In 1855, Vignes’ nephews Pierre and Jean Louis Sainsevain purchased the winery and two years later produced the first California sparkling wine, which they shipped north to San Francisco.  By this time, El Aliso had become the center of a blossoming downtown Frenchtown, known for fine French dining and viticulture.

In 1857, the Sansevain’ brothers opened a store in San Francisco; and by 1858 they led the state with the production of 125,000 gallons of wine and brandy. In 1857, the San Francisco cellars of the Sansevain Brothers produced this first California “champagne.”

In 1865 the Sainsevain brothers bought part of John Rain’s Rancho Cucamonga holdings and cultivated a large vineyard site just below the San Gabriel Mountains. Later in 1868, Sansevain Claret won best wine at the Los Angeles County Fair. In 1870, the Sainsevain brothers physically moved to Cucamonga and ran the Rancho Cucamonga Winery & Vineyards there with Joseph S. Garcia.

By 1875, German immigrants purchased the old El Aliso winery and converted it into one of Los Angeles’ first breweries, the Philadelphia Brewery. El Aliso continued to anchor the brewery’s courtyard, its branches shading Vignes’ former cellar and now protecting German lager rather than French wine from the Southern California sun.

Earlier in 1849 in another part of town, Dr. Leonce Huber, a former military surgeon in Napolean’s army, moved to Los Angeles and shortly thereafter, changed his last name to Hoover. He became a well-respected Swiss-American vintner, known for cultivating the highest grade of quality wine grapes.

In the 1850s, Irishman Matthew “Don Matteo” Keller established vineyard holdings near present-day Matteo Street. By the 1860s, he  planted a vineyard and opened a wine production operation near Alameda & Seventh Streets, near his cotton and citrus holdings adjacent to old downtown.

And, in 1853, while supporting himself with his violin playing & teaching, German Immigrant Charles Kohler traveled to San Francisco to build a wine venture. During this time, his partner John Frohling journeyed southward to Los Angeles looking for suitable vineyard properties to grow their own wine grapes.  By this time, there were perhaps as many as 100 vineyards in the greater Los Angeles area that were producing wines for local consumption.

In 1854, Frohling found an ideal spot, a 12-acre plot along the Los Angeles River and wired Kohler, “I’ve bought a vineyard.  Send me $4,000.”  ​They began making wine in 1854, with that year’s crop of mission grapes, making Kohler & Frohling the first commercial winery in the state.

In 1885, two immigrant French winemakers, Georges Le Mesnager and Pierre Durancette purchased land in Dunsmore Canyon from Dr. Benjamin B. Briggs, the founder of the city of La Crescenta. They also bought land in 1898, opened a winery in downtown Los Angeles, and then planted more vines on their new acreage, shipping the grapes to Los Angeles for processing. In 1905, Georges’ son, Louis, began building a unique two story building now known as Stone Barn Vineyard Conservancy, with its unique brand of winery storage on the building’s ground floor. Today, the wine grape known as Alicante Bouschet is still harvested and made into wine by members of the Stone Barn Vineyard Conservancy, part of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley.

From the 1850s until the 1880s, the San Gabriel Valley itself was also by far the largest wine-producing region in the state. Rows of grapes once stretched for thousands of acres in what is now Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, San Gabriel and Arcadia, and beneath the streets and retail shops of Alhambra lies buried the foundation of what was once considered by many to be the largest winery in the world.

Viticulture in California truly began in the late 1760s with the arrival of the Spanish missionaries, who brought with them a variety of the common black grape that had originally been introduced to the Americas by Hernán Cortés in the 1500s. As they established the California mission system, they planted vineyards at each settlement from San Diego to Sonoma and then began producing sacramental wine for Catholic Masses, as well as for daily consumption.

In 1771 Father Junipero Serra founded the San Gabriel Mission in present-day San Gabriel. The vineyards there proved to be some of the most fruitful in the region. Porous alluvial soil combined with a Mediterranean climate and an abundant water supply from the Arroyo Rosa de Castilla, making an exceptional viticultural area for the “Mission Grape,” as it came to be known. By the early 1800s, the San Gabriel Mission was producing 50,000 gallons of wine a year.

For the Spanish, viticulture was intimately linked to their way of life. For early American settlers who migrated to Alta California in the 1840s, however, winemaking began to look like a profitable business venture to them.

Seeing the potential of a winemaking industry, Benjamin Davis Wilson, known as “Don Benito” by the local indigenous peoples, purchased a substantial part of Rancho San Pasqual in 1854. This area comprised much of present-day Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino and Alhambra. Since the land had water resources that would prove invaluable for agriculture, this region of the San Gabriel Valley truly thrived. Many of the vineyards from the San Gabriel Mission still existed, and with these, Wilson began to cultivate grapes, planting other varietals, such as Zinfandel, Grenache and Carignan.

Don Benito’s business grew steadily, allowing him to develop the property formerly known as “La Huerta de Coati” into Lake Vineyard, an elegant wine estate and a springboard to acquiring more land around this particular area in the early 1860s. Hiring skilled vintners to assist him, Wilson experimented with different wines and signed a contract with a San Francisco agent to distribute them to the rest of the country.

The backstory for Wilson’s Lake Vineyard wine estate begins with a Scotsman named Hugo Reid. Reid, who drifted to California and later married an Indian woman who possessed 8,500 acres of the Santa Anita Rancho, a former property of the San Gabriel Mission, was stricken with “wine fever.” By 1841, he had a walled vineyard of 22,000 vines at Santa Anita and boasted, “I consider myself a first-rate wine maker.” Reid owned a small property of some 128 acres, called La Huerta de Cuati, just to the west of his Santa Anita Rancho, marking the next step in the growth of San Gabriel Valley vineyards and Wilson’s later development of Lake Vineyard wine estate.

In 1867, Wilson’s daughter, Sue, married an enterprising young man from Baltimore named James de Barth Shorb. An adept businessman, Shorb saw great possibility in turning his father-in-law’s winemaking business into industry on a large scale.

Wilson took an immediate liking to the entrepreneurial Shorb, and the two soon became business partners under the name “B.D. Wilson & Co.” The partnership proved lucrative. By 1873, they had more than 230,000 grapevines and hundreds of orange, lime, lemon, olive and walnut trees.

Shorb was a master at corralling the region’s water resources. Using 300,000 feet of iron pipe — a novel idea at the time — and old tiles left over from Spanish dwellings, Shorb installed an elaborate irrigation system, complete with hydrants that could regulate the flow of water to crops. Selling these irrigation systems to neighboring farmers became a source of profit in itself.

One such neighbor was Leonard J. Rose, a German immigrant, who in 1879 built the Sunny Slope Winery in Lamanda Park, with 1,000 acres of grapes and a winery with a capacity of 500,000 gallons. Rose planted more than 35 varieties of grape, and his brandy quickly became a household name. Another was Los Angeles mayor Prudent Beaudry, who owned substantial land near the Arroyo Seco, which he used to open the San Rafael Winery around 1875.

Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin, who had made his fortune in the Gold Rush and owned 63,000 acres, followed suit, planting a 1,200-acre vineyard and building a successful winery in what is now Arcadia.

Gradually, Shorb assumed his father-in-law’s responsibilities, and after Wilson’s death in 1878, Shorb inherited the company. He wanted to expand further, so in 1882, he decided to build a new, larger winery. Backed by English investors, and utilizing inexpensive Chinese laborers, Shorb dynamited a hillside on his property and constructed the San Gabriel Wine Company. It cost $500,000 to build — more than $11 million in today’s dollars.

By any standards, the winery was massive. It had a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons, was capable of crushing nearly 250 tons of grapes a day, and had a telephone and its own one-and-a-half mile extension of the Southern Pacific Railroad leading to the winery’s warehouse. To save time and labor, the winery was built on a slope, so grapes harvested on the vineyards uphill could simply be dumped into slides, which carried them straight to the crushing facilities. Many visiting journalists (and Shorb himself) proudly proclaimed it the largest winery in the world.

By the mid-1880s, there were hundreds of winemaking businesses in the San Gabriel Valley and other parts of Los Angeles County. Wine production in the region peaked somewhere between 1870 and 1885, and for a few years, it seemed that California’s wines might begin to rival Europe’s.

In the late 1880s, however, the local industry began to fall victim to “Anaheim disease” (later called “Pierce’s Disease” or Xylella fastidiosa), an insect-transmitted bacteria, which affected grape vines and other plants. At the same time, vintners began to grow wine in Northern California, using more modern methods and employing European immigrants, who were more familiar with viticulture than the Chinese and Mexican laborers of the San Gabriel Valley.

While the blight was not catastrophic, the panic it created led many investors to think grape-growing too risky an endeavor, and soon other crops, such as oranges and walnuts, had supplanted grapes.

Leonard Rose, perhaps foreseeing tough times ahead, got out of the business early, selling Sunny Slope to a British firm in 1887. Around the same time, Prudent Beaudry sold San Rafael Winery and the adjacent land to the Campbell-Johnston family of Pasadena.

Shorb struggled to keep the San Gabriel Wine Company afloat. He had made steady profits from 1882 to 1888, but the blight destroyed many of his vineyards, and in 1892, he was forced to close after just ten years in operation. Shorb died four years later, and the buildings were sold and converted into a felt factory in 1903. The last of the original buildings was demolished in 1987.

Of the wineries that survived the blight, many took a second hit with the passage of Prohibition in 1919. Showing its commitment to the new amendment, Los Angeles County enacted a law banning vineyards in all but industrial areas.

Strangely, one winery was able to survive and even thrive during the period. The Sierra Madre Vintage Company of Lamanda Park, incorporated in 1885, lasted well into the 1920s, through a loophole allowing wine production for religious sacraments, and by switching to production of table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. By the 1930s, however, nearly every major winery in the San Gabriel Valley had ceased operations.

Today, almost no trace remains of Pasadena’s viticultural heritage. Nevertheless, if you drive through the Lamanda Park neighborhood of Pasadena, you will find clues buried in the street names — Del Vina Street, Vine Aly, Vinedo Avenue, Vineyard Street.

A story or legend, perhaps apocryphal, goes that a bottle of 1891 Cabernet from Shorb’s winery survived until 1955, when a lucky connoisseur came across it, and upon tasting it, declared it “a wine to be savored with pleasure and respect.” Sadly, the vineyards that produced it have been all but forgotten.

Latter parts of the blog post are direct quotes, photos, and excerpts from the July 11, 2017 post entitled, “Cultivating California: The History Of Wines In Los Angeles.” This blog was originally featured in the summer 2017 edition of Edible LA.  Thanks to “artbites: Cooking Art History,” art bites.net for this illuminating article!

Today, I was planning to share with you fresh morsels of “magic” related to a variety of unique and distinctive, yet commonly shared vinifera experiences. As I unpacked several wonderful, whimsical, wild-and-wooly, and even serendipitous moments in vino, I unintentionally stumbled upon instances involving obstacles and exclusions placed along the personal, cultural, and historical collective wine paths of several specific groups.

I was surprised and shocked to find such stark examples of the marginalization and alienation from the wine world experienced by my lovely, culturally rich, and beautifully diverse neighbors and friends who reside south of us. I set my focus on Mexico primarily due to my own curiosity as to why Mexico has only recently become a “hip, newly burgeoning wine” culture and wine destination.

I will begin with the history of pulque, which immediately grabbed my attention. What is it? Pulque is often referred to as “Agave Wine,” and “the magical drink of the gods.” This un-distilled beverage fermented from the sap of the maguey (agave) plant has a rich history, having been produced the same way in central Mexico for over several millennia.

Within the last five or six years, the rebirth of pulque especially among the younger, “hip” crowd in Mexico City is unusual, and the reality is that its recent popularity amongst the cool kids is an enigma.

Pulque has the appearance of a milk, yet is more viscous. Since pulque stays fresh for only a few short days, authentic, high-quality pulque should not have a strong, intense, or an overpowering aroma. And, if the texture of your pulque is overtly slimy, this may indicate that Nopal cactus has been added to the pulque to make it more appealing to the “young” crowd.

This magical maguey wine should neither be too smelly, too gooey, nor too slimy. Pulque’s flavor is described as having a sour yeastlike bite.  Lambic comes to mind, yet pulque is quite distinctive from lambic on the palate. It should be a brilliant white, not a cream color, nor completely transparent, because then it would be “aguamiel” (the pre-fermented state of the maguey’s nectar). There will always be a layer of bubbles on top because it is in a constant state of  fermentation.

The drink’s history extends far back into the Mesoamerican period, when it was considered sacred, and its use was limited to certain classes. After the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the drink became secular and its consumption rose. The consumption of pulque reached its peak in the late 19th century.  In the 20th century, however, the drink fell into decline, mostly because of competition from beer, which became more prevalent with the arrival of European immigrants.

Before the Spanish colonization of the Americas, pulque was used for religious ceremonies in Mesoamerica. After the arrival of the Spanish, no laws were made to restrict its consumption and use. Ultimately, pulque became a lucrative source of tax revenue for the rulers, becoming the fourth largest source of tax revenue for them.

Pulque consumption was widespread among Indigenous Americans and mixed-race castas at this time. “Castas” were a system of racial hierarchy created by the Spanish colonialists which classified groups into external racial composition and perceived social classes. Casta paintings from this period generally depicted Indigenous Americans and those of African descent as being drunk with bottles of pulque in their hands.

Many social problems including sexual crimes and violence within the population occurred during the early colonial period. However, by 1672, public drunkenness had become enough of a problem that the viceregal government created regulations to curtail its consumption. At the end of the 17th century, though, the Jesuits began large-scale production of pulque to finance their newly-formed educational institutions.

Pulque production exploded again after Independence, due to the end of regulations on producers of the beverage. Pulque was also intimately tied to the spirit of Mexican Nationalism. Today, however, Pulque only represents about 10% of the alcoholic beverages consumed in casas Mexicanos, cantinas, clubs, salons de bailar, salons de mariachi, el restaurantes Mexicanos or pulquerias.

What cause this sudden decline? Pulque consumption was generally regarded as something “lower class” by this time. The complex and delicate fermentation process also limited the beverages’ production and distribution. Agitation while shipping also adversely affects the drink by speeding up its degradation & decline. Thus, since pulque needs to be consumed while it is very fresh, production and consumption is more difficult to control than beer.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for pulque, though, was the European Immigrant Beer Industry’s campaign to discredit the beverage’s hygienic and sanitary qualities. The Beer Industry’s claim was that a muneca (doll) or textile bag filled with human or animal feces was thrown into the aquamiel to accelerate the fermentation process. All of these aforementioned factor greatly impacted public perceptions to pulque.

Thus, many political and economic factors influenced the popularity of pulque throughout Mexican history. In my next blogpost, I will share with you the story of how the history of pulque in Mexico greatly impacted and influenced today’s attitudes and views regarding the consumption of wines made from the vitas vinifera grape.

And, are you ready for this? The earliest archaeological evidence of grape wines has been located at various sites throughout the world, dating back as far as 7000 BC in China! The explosive growth and popularity of vitas vinifera-based wines in China since the beginning of the New Millennium, thus, has historical precedence rarely discussed among oenophiles of the world.

Sites in Georgia (and, I don’t mean “Hotlanta” here) revealed archaeological evidence of wine consumption around 6000 BC, Iran, 5000 BC, Greece, 4500 BC, and Sicily, 4000 BC. The oldest evidence of the first wine production has been found in Armenia, dating back to 4100 BC.

So, what’s the big deal about all of these numbers? The single common thread found in most ancient literature, historical texts, personal diaries, older art forms, and even preserved musical pieces referencing wine attributes the altered state of consciousness produced by this grape juice to something magical or transcendental. These beverages were referred to as “spirits” for a reason.

Their presence in ancient rituals, cultic ceremonies, religious commemorations, and spiritual practices were, without exception, vital to their meaning and significance.

So, let’s talk about the “magic” for a moment. I have curated and hosted numerous wine events, wine tastings, and food & wine pairing dinners over the past five years. The events generally begin with complete strangers coming together out of their curiosity or their hunger & thirst to experience and know more about the world of wine. Early moments are often awkward & stilted, and are even a bit intimidating for some participants. Thoughts such as “Am I the only one who doesn’t know what I am doing here?” may prevail among some guests.

By the end of these events, lifelong friendships have been cultivated, contact information has been exchanged, and folks are clamoring over the details, dates and times of the next upcoming wine events and shindigs. Children have also been conceived post-wine event, as well. Is this merely the alcohol speaking or living through us? I think not.

The traditional wine grape, vitas vinifera, etymologically speaking, finds its roots in the Latin word “vita,” which means “life, while “vinifera” refers to the vine-like qualities of the cultivar. Can anyone explain or describe “life” to me? There is something ineffable and inexplicable about the concept.

Yet, we know what it is, and what it isn’t, for the most part. The Spot On Life, or My Spot On Life, begins and ends with the word, “life.” We are either giving life or taking life away from someone or something in every breath that we breathe.

Sustainable, to me, means that my encounter with someone or something leaves it in even better stead, a better way, shape, or form than when I initially encountered it.

Are we “alive?” Are we giving life to others? Are we giving life to our own selves in our daily interactions and interplay with the wold around us? These are important questions that wine has taught me to ask myself & others.

Wine is my teacher. Wine is not only tasty and even healthy. It teaches me how to quiet my racing mind, reduces the clutter in my head, and allows me to divert from my “to do” list into my “to be” state of living.

This magical grape juice resembles human bodily fluids and even human blood after its cultivation. Yet, the elements in this magical fruit speak so gently and softly to us about the beauty, goodness, meaningfulness, and preciousness of being alive.

Can it get any better than this? Of course, it can! Stay tuned for the next installment!

The world is full of “experts.” We need experts and generally cherish expertise. Yet, many carry on a love-hate relationship with these pundits or “know-it-alls.” This certainly rings true in the world of wine. Those who use their wine knowledge as weapons of intimidation to aim at their guests and tools to vanquish the uninformed masses with their polished verbal “tasers” or poetic “stun guns” miss the boat entirely in terms of sharing & harnessing wine’s creativity, power and abundance.

Thus, The (or, My) Spot On life exists to empower you, not to intimidate or impress you. The realization that we are all “experts” in something is one of my fundamental life hypotheses. Most of us realize that the only thing that is certain about our life is that our life itself is uncertain. Thus, we likely approach the wine world with a similar disposition, angst, or even trepidation, i.e., we will never “get it.”

Relish this thought for a moment by asking oneself the question, “Am I a “wine expert?” The answer is, without a shadow of doubt in my own mind, yes, you are. You just don’t know it yet. You simply do not realize the truth of this reality about the wine world which resides in you.

New knowledge of the magical grape juice abounds these days. Yet, true experts in oenology and viticulture possess a powerfully held, deep humility, a sense of gratitude, and even an awe towards the fruits of their labor, sweat, toil and tears. This is one finest rays of light emanating from the beautiful spectrum of the life world of vitis vinifera. This is a colorful world radiating outwards towards us with beauty and majesty

In an interview with Angela Evans of TulsaFoods.com, Michael Keenan, the director of California’s Robert Keenan Winery discusses his 100% solar powered, sustainably farmed operation in the Spring Mountain District of Napa Valley. In the interview, Keenan shares his intimate connection with the health & well-being of the winery’s land resources. He elucidates his desire to enhance the land year after year of harvest, making it even better than the year before. This is how he defines “sustainability.”

His concept of having no “winemaker” in his employ and his idea of “managing the grapes” rather than laying claim to being the “expert producer” reflects this humility towards the terroir and its abundant fruits. “There is something magical about wine” is a central theme in many of his verbal musings.

“Wine lifts one’s spirits,” and  “the vines are sentient beings,” he adds. I agree with Michael Keenan wholeheartedly. So, whose wine is it anyway? It is ours, all of ours, each and every one of us, no matter what or where our station or our calling is in life. Wine is one of the cosmic equalizers, a magical unifier, and one of the greatest potential democratizers of all time. Wine levels the playing field of life. Your eyes will be opened to this reality, sooner rather than later.

 

What is The Spot On Life? The answer is already known by you, as it resides within you. SpotOn Living is a life filled with appreciation, honor, joy, and wonder towards all living things, as well as a life emanating with gratitude for the gift of being alive & being human. This spot on life is one characterized by striving to experience each and every moment in thankfulness, abundance, joy, gratitude and love, rather than languishing in cynicism, pain, sorrow, anger and regret.

What are the primary ingredients of The Spot On Life? First, treating each and every life experience as a learning experience, a teaching moment, a heuristic device, and a didactic adventure rather than viewing our life situations as burdensome, sorrowful, boring or aberrant. This blogspot aims to provide others with both the lenses and the practical tools which will assist individuals in their life journey of transforming pain and hardships into beautiful pieces & works of art that adorn our lives, rather than tarnish or define them. Treating crises and problems as opportunities and “gifts” are two of the key elements of The Spot On Life.

The lesson of the bird-eye maple comes to mind…the bird’s eye maple is one of the most lovely wood veneers a craftsperson will encounter in their woodworking experience. Patterns and variations abound. The figures generally resemble small birds’ eyes. What brings about these patterns and variations reportedly are unfavorable growing conditions and adversities encountered during the life span of the maple tree.

Lightning strikes, for example, often cause branches to fall or be splintered. It is in these moments and places that the bird eye maple is beginning its formative journey. It is the”scarring” patterns themselves and the healing of the injuries to the tree which bring about its newfound beauty and mystery.

Are we any different than the maple tree than undergoes hardship, adversities, and challenges? Qualitatively speaking, I think not. I think we are more similar than dissimilar to the tree. We differ quantitatively in terms of the types of atoms and molecules that comprise us and bind us, but we are both comprised of the forces of energy & life.

What vehicles or media will serve as our clay to create our Spot On Life? The world of food, wine, water, beer, craft beers, spirits, coffee, tea, beverages, and other daily necessities will be our media. So, grab your potter’s wheel, and let’s begin the journey!