Los Angeles was the City of Vines before it became known as the City of Angels

I have been blaming the Spanish clergy for the Judgment of Paris debacle for French wines but further research places more direct responsibility on a ... Frenchman. Yes, a Frenchman. Sixteen years after his fellow countryman Jean David had backed out of a deal with Thomas Jefferson because, in his view, a successful US domestic wine industry could potentially do significant harm to the French wine industry, the aptly named Jean-Louis Vignes launched a US wine industry based on French varieties. Let's explore.

Jean-Louis Vignes
(Source: Balzac Communications)

Vignes surfaced in Monterey,  Alta California, 10 years after the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence (1810 - 1821). He had been born in a small French village where his family were artisans: they made barrels for the local wine producers; they made their own wine; and they processed wine lees into lees ash for use as a fertilizer.

Jean-Louis left his village and eventually ended up in the Sandwich Islands where he grew sugar cane and distilled rum. The religious leaders were not fans and persuaded the authorities to ban the basis of his business, driving him into insolvency. He left for the US mainland, arriving in Monterey in 1831 and the Pueblo of Los Angeles later in the same year.

When Vignes arrived in LA, Mission grapes were grown by the Franciscans for sacramental purposes and outside the religious structure for the production of aguardiente (a brandy) and wine for local consumption. The primary industry was cattle-rearing but the "free-range" cattle were not suitable for consumption at table. Rather, the 76,000 head of cattle were used for tallow (62 million pounds shipped between 1826 and 1848) and hides (5 million shipped in the first half of the century). Vignes eventually purchased 104 acres of land on the west side of the Los Angeles River and named it El Aliso after the centuries-old tree located in the vicinity of the farm entrance.

Vignes started out with Mission grapes but was not satisfied with the quality of the wines. To address this shortcoming, he imported Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc vines from his native Bordeaux, had them shipped around Cape Horn, and planted them in Los Angeles in 1833. This was the first instance of non-Mission vinifera being imported to the west coast of the US (Mazzei had imported Italian vitis vinifera to the east coast in 1774) and the first instance of Bordeaux varieties planted therein (A momentous event given that Bordeaux varietals would participate in the dethroning of French wines by Napa insurgents 143 years hence.). Vignes grafted the Bordeaux scions onto Mission rootstocks; and the rest is history.

Vignes was the first to grow quality wines in California and the first California producer to age his wines. The wood for the wine barrels was sourced from his holdings in the San Bernadino Mountains. It is likely that his first Bordeaux varietal vintage was in 1837. His wines were highly regarded and even made its way to the table of the then President Martin van Buren.

Buoyed by the prospects in California, Vignes wrote to his relatives in Cadillac, encouraging them to come join him. A nephew, Pierre Sainsevain, was the first to respond to the call, arriving in LA in 1839 and joining his Uncle's enterprise.

By 1840, the estate had made its first shipment north and by 1842, was making regular shipments to Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco, commanding prices of $4/gallon for brandy and $2/gallon for wine. By 1845 they were shipping 1000 barrels of wine and brandy north and by 1849, El Aliso was the most extensive vineyard in California with over 40,000 vines and annual production of 150,000 bottles per year.

Pierre's brother arrived in Los Angeles in 1849 and in 1855 Vignes sold El Aliso to the Sainsevain brothers for $42,000, the largest real estate transaction to that date in California. By that time Vignes was largely considered the founder of California's wine industry and would eventually have a street in downtown LA named after him. 

Vignes was instrumental in Los Angeles District becoming the original beating heart of the California wine industry. When gold was first discovered in California in 1848, demand increased for California wine and there were many new market entrants; entrants who sought out Vignes for advice and counsel. A total of 125 vineyards were operative in 1855, hosting 324,234 vines and producing 7000 lbs of fresh grapes and 100,000 gallons of wine and brandy. Seventy-five vineyards operated within the LA city limits, earning it the moniker "City of Vines." The road from Los Angeles to the port of San Pedro was called Vineyard Lane.

Los Angeles remained the center of California wine production until the nexus was shifted north by a number of factors including positives such as the arrival of the railroad and the rise of the citrus industry and negatives such as phylloxera, Pierce's disease, and Prohibition.

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