Almaden Vineyards, historically written as Almadén Vineyards, is a Californian winery. Founded in 1852, it is the oldest commercial winery in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Originally located and established in

Almaden Valley, San Jose Almaden Valley (Spanish: ''Valle de Almadén''), commonly known simply as Almaden (Spanish: ''Almadén''), is a valley and neighborhood of San Jose, California, located in South San Jose. It is nestled between the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west ...

, the winery has since moved to the San Joaquín Valley, primarily based in Escalon and Madera. The

Old Almadén Winery The Old Almadén Winery is a historic wine production site in Santa Clara County, California situated on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The winery is no longer in operation, the Almaden Vineyards company moved to Madera, Californi ...

in San Jose is a registered

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

and open to the public.California Office of Historic Preservation
Santa Clara
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History

The winery was established by Éthienne Thée in 1852, who named the vineyard after

New Almaden , settlement_type = Neighborhood of San Jose , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = , mapsize1 = , map_caption1 = , pushpin_map = United States Sa ...

, a nearby quicksilver mining town. Though sources contradict concerning details of the original foundation, it was undeniably Charles Le Franc, son-in-law of Thée, who planted the first choice European grape varieties at the foot of the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...

. The conditions of Pacific cool evening breeze and rocky soil are not sufficiently fertile for large yields but grapes of special quality. Following

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, Almadén as its wines were marketed, had great success with their blush wine, the White Grenache Rosé, allegedly the first popular pink wine in the United States. The vineyard has undergone great change since, and as the home ground of Los Gatos became overrun by suburbs, Almaden Vineyards was among the first to move south and up, to Paicines in

San Benito County San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for "St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,209. The coun ...

, initially planting of mostly

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

and

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

grapes with success, and claim of "the world’s largest varietal wine vineyard".

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1852 establishments in California Wineries in California