D'Agostini Winery refers to both a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

Healdsburg, California Healdsburg is a city located in Sonoma County, in California's Wine Country. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,254. Owing to its three most important wine-producing regions (the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley ...

(

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

) owned by Armagan Champagne Cellars as well as the original vineyard, winery, and wine cellar located in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, Amador County, which are owned by

Sobon Estate Winery Sobon Estate winery, located in Plymouth, Amador County, is the oldest winery in California and is registered as California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that ...

. The original winery is registered as a

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 ...

. D'Agostini Winery, now Sobon Estate, is the oldest winery in California that still operates today. It was started in 1856 by Adam Uhlinger, a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

immigrant, who brought

grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, b ...

s with him from Europe to Amador County. It was thought to be the first place where

Zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštel ...

was planted in California,The Sobons to reopen historic D'Agostini winery in Amador County
''Wines & Vines'', May 1990 but later research has shown that many people were involved in bringing Zinfandel to California and that it is impossible to determine who truly was first.Sullivan, Charles., ''Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine'', Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2003 It is, however, the oldest in the state to continuously make Zinfandel and some of the original vines are even still in production. In 1911, the winery and its of vineyard were purchased by Enrico D'Agostini, whom the winery is now named after. Armagan Champagne Cellars purchased the business in 1984, and the Amador County vineyard and wine cellar were sold to the Sobon family in 1989. Thus, bottles sold under the D'Agostini label are produced by Armagan, but the wine produced from the original vines comes from Sobon. The original wine cellar, with walls made from rock quarried from nearby hills, hand-hewn beams, and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

cask A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

s, is still standing and is now part of th
Shenandoah Valley Museum
which displays agriculture and wine artifacts.

References

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External links

Armagan Champagne Cellars & D'Agostini WinerySobon Family Wines
1856 establishments in California Wineries in Sonoma County California Historical Landmarks Buildings and structures in Amador County, California Swiss-American culture