Italian Swiss Colony was a 19th and 20th-century American wine company and brand. Based in Asti, Sonoma County, California, Italian Swiss Colony was at one time the leading wine producer in California.

Establishment and growth

In 1881, Andrea Sbarboro founded an agricultural colony at Asti (named for Asti in Italy), primarily focused on

grapes A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

. Sbarboro's intent was to establish a profitable enterprise which would provide work for the many Italians who had migrated to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

(although there were at first some Italian speaking Swiss from

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

, thus giving the colony its name, it soon became an entirely Italian-American enterprise.) The corporation had originally been organized to allow the workers to eventually buy ownership, but this never developed, and it remained a normal joint-stock company. In 1887, a collapse in grape prices forced the company to construct a winery and begin wine production itself. Key personnel in these early years, besides Sbarboro, were Charles Kohler, Paolo de Vecchi, and Pietro Rossi. Rossi led the company to develop its own agencies to sell directly to eastern markets; soon after the wine was being sold in Europe, South America, and Asia. The huge wine cistern (with a capacity of ) that Sbarboro had had built became a tourist attraction. By 1905, the wines had won medals at various international competitions. By 1910 the company owned over in various holdings in the Central Valley. As the movement for prohibition of alcohol in the United States grew, Sbarboro became a leading spokesman for wine and temperance, but lived to see the beginning of prohibition on January 16, 1920.

After prohibition

The Italian Swiss Colony operation (then owned by

National Distillers Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have be ...

) was acquired in 1953 by Louis Petri of Petri Wine (founded in 1886). Petri shepherded the growth of Italian Swiss Colony as a mass-market brand; wine was shipped in tankers to be bottled in New York. Television ads featuring

Ludwig Stössel Ludwig Stössel (12 February 1883 – 29 January 1973) was an actor born in Lockenhaus, now Austria, then Hungary. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Biography S ...

(voiced by

Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...

; yodeling by Bob Oates) with the catchphrase "The little old winemaker – me!" appeared regularly on American national television. ( Dean Martin and others recorded a song titled on a parody of that line, " Little Old Wine Drinker Me".) The company later became part of United Vintners (organized by Louis Petri and others), then was sold to

Heublein Heublein Inc. (also known as Heublein Spirits) was an American producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages and food throughout the 20th century. During the 1960s and 1970s its stock was regarded as one of the most stable financial investments ...

in 1969, and later sold by Heublein to Allied Growers. By 1987, the company had been renamed to ISC Wines and the brand from Italian Swiss Colony to just Colony (ISC also had other brands, including

jug wine "Jug wine" is a term in the United States for inexpensive table wine (or "bulk wine") typically bottled in a glass bottle or jug. Historically, jug wines were labeled semi-generically, often sold to third parties to be relabeled, or sold direc ...

label Petri). In 1987 Allied Growers sold ISC Wines to Erly Industries, who merged it with Sierra Wine Company into a new entity. In 2015 the descendant of the company, now operating under the name Asti Winery and selling wine under the Souverain brand, and owning America's sixth-largest wine production facility, was purchased by

E & J Gallo Winery E & J Gallo Winery is a winery and distributor headquartered in Modesto, California. It was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo, and is the largest exporter of California wines. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest family-owned wi ...

from its owner, Australia-based Treasury Wine Estates.

In the media

In the film Grease during a pajama party the Pink Ladies drink a bottle of Italian Swiss Colony and believe it is imported. In the TV show The Sopranos, season 5 episode 10, “Cold Cuts”, Uncle Pat tells a story of how one of his workers put a Swiss Colony bottle on one of the fence posts.

References

External links

Italian Swiss Colony Historical Landmark
{{Authority control 1881 establishments in California Products and services discontinued in 1987 Defunct California wineries Wineries in Sonoma County History of Sonoma County, California

Establishment and growth

After prohibition

In the media

See also

References

External links