The California Wine Industry Started in … Glendale?

That’s a provocative title, but it may very well be true. There is evidence to suggest that the first secular (outside the missions) wine production in California was done by none other than our own Jose Maria Verdugo at his rancho in what is now North Glendale.

The origin of this interesting theory comes from local historian Stuart Byles in his fascinating book “Los Angeles Wine.” In the book Byles traces the history of wine production in the Los Angeles area, starting with the wine-making operations of San Gabriel Mission in the late 1700s to the growth of the Los Angeles wine industry inspired by French immigrants in the 1800s.

The wines of Los Angeles were significant to U.S. wine sales in the 1800s. In that time period the term “California wine” actually meant wine from Los Angeles. It wasn’t until almost the turn of the 20th century that the LA vineyards began to be replanted in housing subdivisions and the California wine industry moved north to Napa-Sonoma.

As Byles researched his book, he came across a quote from the seminal book on the history of the American wine industry, Thomas Pinney’s “History of Wine in America.” The quote read: “Jose Maria Verdugo may have planted the first private (non-Mission) vineyard in California on his Rancho San Rafael.” That’s a heady theory, that the first secular and possibly commercial wine-making operation in California was on Verdugo’s Rancho here in Glendale. This sent Byles on a search for more evidence of this.

Here’s some background: The Catholic missions that were established in California depended on wine for their religious rites. Initially wine had to be brought up from Mexico and it was expensive and in short supply. According to historians, the first grape cuttings arrived in California in 1778 and made their way up the chain of missions. “Mission grapes” were probably a mixture of a Spanish variety and some of the native grape vines of North and South America. Eventually San Gabriel Mission became the most prolific of all the wine-producing Missions. In 1784, a corporal of the guard at San Gabriel Mission, Jose Maria Verdugo applied for the first land grant in what is now Glendale and Burbank.

That he took grape cuttings from the mission to his new Rancho is without doubt. Wine was an important part of meals for the early Californios, and they had to make their own. Verdugo established extensive crops on his property, along with irrigation systems fed by the Los Angeles River and Verdugo Creek. (Jose Verdugo actually referred to his rancho by a nickname, “La Zanja,” Spanish for “the water ditch,” which attests to a robust irrigation system). There are a few references to his large orchards and fields and, in his will, Verdugo designates an heir for his vineyards.

So, Verdugo had vineyards, but where were they? Probably near his house as proximity of the vines for tending and winemaking would be advantageous. But where was his house? No one knows for sure. It probably would not have been near the LA River, which had a tendency to flood and spread out. That would put it nearer to the Verdugo Mountains.

The memory of someone who came to the area in 1865 put “the oldest Verdugo house” in North Glendale around where the intersection of Kenneth Road and Pacific is today. That may have been his home, along with an “old orchard” noted on maps in the Rossmoyne area. The Verdugo Adobe we all know in Verdugo Canyon was his daughter’s house, not his. But he left that land to her in his will, along with his vineyards. Is that where his original vineyards were? Were they in the Verdugo Canyon, irrigated with water coming down from the Crescenta Valley?

Granted, this is all circumstantial evidence, and Byles doesn’t make any conclusions. But it is a likely scenario. It’s doubtful that Glendale will be putting “The Birthplace of California Wine” on its “Welcome to Glendale” signs. We can’t prove it. It’s just a fun theory to mull over while sipping some California wine.

  mike lawler