Don Pedro Sainsevain ( né Pierre; November 20, 1818 – October 4, 1904) was a French-born Californian

vintner A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

, ranchero, and a signer of the Californian Constitution in 1849. He is best known for his role in Californian winemaking, as one of the first producers of

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He also was an early participant in the California Gold Rush.

Life

Sainsevain, a carpenter, came from

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, France to

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...

on the ship ''Ayacucho'' on July 4, 1839. He had been sent by his family to find his uncle

Jean-Louis Vignes Jean-Louis Vignes (April 9, 1780 - January 17, 1862), also known as Don Luis del Aliso, was a French-born Californian vintner and ranchero. He was the one of the first commercial wine makers in California and one of the first men to import and pla ...

in Los Angeles. He settled on Vignes' property, '' El Aliso'', and assisted with growing grapes and oranges, and with winemaking. In 1840, he loaded a shipment of wine and brandy on a ship to sell along the California coast. On this trip, he made his first visit to

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...

and

Branciforte Branciforte, originally named Villa de Branciforte, was the last of only three secular ''pueblos'' founded by the Spanish colonial government of Alta California. The pueblo was established in 1797 on the eastern bluff of the San Lorenzo River, fac ...

. In 1841 he worked at Vignes' sawmill near

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

. In 1843, Sainsevain was granted Rancho Cañada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo near

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...

by Governor Manuel Micheltorena, and in the Fall of 1843 he built one of the first sawmills in the valley of the

San Lorenzo River The San Lorenzo River is a long river whose headwaters originate in Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains and flow south by southeast through the San Lorenzo Valley before passing through Santa Cruz and emptying into Monterey Ba ...

, in association with Charles Roussillon (also known as "Rochon"), another Frenchman. In 1844, he was granted permission to start a flour mill with a daily capacity of 75 ''fanegas'' on the Guadalupe River in San Jose. In 1845, Sainsevain married Paula Suñol (1827–1883), whose father Antonio Suñol owned Rancho Los Coches. In 1846, Sainsevain and Charles Roussillon built a schooner (the ''Antonita'') on the beach at Santa Cruz. She was launched on June 25, and sailed to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) to have a copper bottom installed. In 1847, Roussillon was the defendant in the first jury trial (

Isaac Graham Isaac Graham (April 15, 1800 – November 8, 1863) was a fur trader, mountain man, and land grant owner in 19th century California. In 1830, he joined a hunting and trapping party at Fort Smith, Arkansas that included George Nidever. Graham ...

vs. Charles Roussillon) in California. In 1848, Sainsevain and Roussillon went to the gold mines near Coloma. Sainsevain, Roussillon, Antonio Sunol, and Amador, with help from twenty-five Indians, mined gold at Don Pedro's Bar on the

Tuolumne River The Tuolumne River (Yokutsan: ''Tawalimnu'') flows for through Central California, from the high Sierra Nevada to join the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley. Originating at over above sea level in Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne ...

. Sainsevain and Roussillon soon had enough of mining and returned to Stockton in 1849 to open a store supplying the California Gold Rush miners. They owned a hotel in San Jose that became California's first State House. Sainsevain was a delegate to the

1849 California Constitutional Convention The California Constitutional Conventions were two separate constitutional conventions that took place in California during the nineteenth century which led to the creation of the modern Constitution of California. The first, known as the 1849 ...

Wine

In 1859, Sainsevain sold Rancho Cañada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo, and with his brother, Jean Louis, bought the El Aliso vineyards in Los Angeles from their uncle, Jean-Louis Vignes (also known as "Don Luis Del Aliso"). The firm of Sainsevain Brothers immediately proceeded to expand the scale of operations at the old El Aliso vineyard. In 1857 they opened a store in San Francisco; and by 1858 they led the state with a production of 125,000 gallons of wine and brandy. In 1857, the San Francisco cellars of the Sainsevain Brothers produced champagne. However, it was not a success, and as a result of their investment in sparkling wine, Sainsevain Brothers was soon in financial difficulties. The partnership was dissolved in the 1860s, and only Jean Louis Sainsevain remained at the El Aliso property when it was sold in 1865.Thomas Pinney, 1989, ''A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition'',University of California Press In 1865 the Sainsevain brothers bought part of Rain's

Rancho Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Bernardino County, California, given in 1839 to the dedicated soldier, smuggler and politician Tiburcio Tapia by Mexican governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. The grant formed parts of pr ...

and set out a large vineyard. In 1868 his Claret won the title of best wine at the county fair. In 1870 the Sainsevain brothers moved to

Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga ( ) is a city located just south of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest in San Bernardino County, California, United States. About east of Downtown Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga is the 28th ...

, and ran the vineyard and winery with Joseph S. Garcia. In 1874 the Sainsevains purchased land in Hawker Canyon four miles east of Etiwanda and built a large stone house and a reservoir. In 1875, Pierre Sainsevain went to Central America, returning in 1880 to his Sainsevain Villa in San Jose. After his wife's death in 1883, he returned to France, where he spent the rest of his days.

Legacy

The

Don Pedro Reservoir Don Pedro Reservoir, also known as Lake Don Pedro, is a reservoir formed by the construction of the New Don Pedro Dam across the Tuolumne River in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard A ...

behind the

Don Pedro Dam The Don Pedro Dam, since 1971 also known as the Old Don Pedro Dam, was a dam across the Tuolumne River in Tuolumne County, California. The structure still exists and is flooded underneath Don Pedro Reservoir, which is formed by the New Don Pedro ...

takes its name from Don Pedros Bar mining town. San Sevaine Flats and San Sevaine Lookout in the San Gabriel Mountains, Sainsevain street in Los Angeles (incorporated into Commercial Street), San Sevaine streets in

, Mira Loma and Fontana, and the San Sevaine flood control channel and

spreading ground A spreading ground is a water conservation facility that retains surface water long enough for it to percolate into the soil. Spreading grounds must be located where underlying soils are permeable and connected to a target aquifer. Locating t ...

s, are named (with misspelling) for the Sainsevain brothers.

Jean Louis Sainsevain

Jean Louis Sainsevain (1817–1889) was born in Béguey, France a village near

. He came to Los Angeles in 1855 to join his brother, Pierre. In 1868, Jean Louis Sainsevain was awarded a contract by the City of Los Angeles to create a new domestic water system.

Bibliography

;Notes ;References * - Total pages: 441

Life

Wine

Legacy

Jean Louis Sainsevain

Bibliography

See also