Concannon Vineyard is the second-largest

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, ...

in the

Livermore Valley The Livermore Valley, historically known as the Valle de San José (Valley of San José), is a valley in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region. The city of Livermore is located in the valley. Geography The valley is bound ...

of California, producing around 30,000 cases annually. It is well known for its

Petite Sirah Durif is a variety of red wine grape primarily grown in Australia, California, France, and Israel. Since the end of the 20th century, wineries located in Washington's Yakima River Valley, Maryland, Arizona, Texas, West Virginia, Chile, Mexico' ...

and Concannon was the first winery to bottle this grape as a

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

wine in 1961. Prior to 1961, the petite sirah grape was produced worldwide as a blend wine. It also produces several other varieties of wine, including

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 Sauvingnon. Concannon is owned by

The Wine Group The Wine Group is an American alcoholic beverage company founded in 1981, and based in Livermore, California. Products It produces wine brands including Franzia, Cupcake Vineyards, Benziger Family Winery, Chloe Wine Collection, 7 Deadly Wines, I ...

History

Concannon was founded in 1883 by an Irish immigrant, James Concannon of

Inishmaan Inishmaan ( ; ga, Inis Meáin , the official name, formerly spelled , meaning "middle island") is the middle of the three main Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of County Galway in the p ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

. James imported a group of cuttings from Chateau Margaux in 1893. James planted a large area of his Livermore vineyard solely with the imported vines. In the 1960s, most of the California vintners were confronted with an attack of phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...
Closer inspection revealed that the vines descended from the 1893 cuttings looked healthy, while those that were at least partly derived from other grapes appeared to have been preferentially attacked by the virus.IntoWine December 2, 2012.">"John Concannon of Concannon Vineyard - the IntoWine interview." IntoWine December 2, 2012.
Accessed November 28, 2018. In 1965, Jim Concannon, who was then in charge of Concannon's research and development, contacted Dr. Harold Olmo at UC Davis about establishing a program to clone some of the 1893 vines at Concannon's Livermore Vineyard. Dr. Olmo, Professor Curt Alley and Jim Concannon prepared a test bed where they could closely monitor specimens of the grapes descended from these wines. The three collaborators then took three cuttings from a single vine The vine specimens were heat treated to remove any trace of viral disease, then propagated under close observation at the Oakville Campus of UC Davis. UC Davis formally registered the wines to the wine industry under their code names between 1970 and 1974. This research program is credited with creating Concannon Cabernet Clones 7, 8 and 11, which now account for an estimated 80% of all cabernet sauvignon produced in the state of California. According to UC Davis, Its success in producing and selling

sacrament A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...

al or

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

wine for the Roman Catholic Church helped it to survive national

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 ...

. Grape cuttings from this

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

were introduced to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

between 1889 and 1904 for the improvement of its commercial

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

. As such, the vineyard has been designated 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 ...

(#641). Concannon Vineyard was bought by Tesla Vineyards, an investment group that also owned the

Wente Vineyards Wente Vineyards is a winery in Livermore, California, that is "the oldest continuously operating, family-owned winery in the United States." The Wente Estate is registered as a California Historical Landmark #957. History The winery was establis ...

in 1992. The investment group included members of the Tesla family. In July 1992,

reportedly bought the Concannon operation from Tesla for an undisclosed price. At the time, Concannon reportedly was producing about 55,000 cases a year. The sale included the brand, inventories, the winery and of vineyards.

Notes

References

External links

*
Photographs and transcription of historical marker
- Markeroni.com
"John Concannon of Concannon Vineyard - the IntoWine interview."
IntoWine December 2, 2012. Accessed November 28, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Concannon Vineyard Wineries in Livermore Valley Companies based in Livermore, California 1883 establishments in California

History

Notes

See also

References

External links