280 
WINE GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 
[As represented at the Universal Exposition at Paris, in 1867.7 
Sir: In response to your request for information respecting the wine-growing 
and the wine-production of California, made during your examination of the Cali- 
fornia samples at the Exposition, I now have the pleasure to send you the fol- 
lowing interesting résumé of the subject which I have recently received from 
Mr. Carmany, editor of the Annual Review of the Mining and Commercial 
Interests of the Pacific States. 
This article describes better than anything I have been able to prepare the 
present condition of the wine-producing interests of California. 
I have inserted one or two paragraphs upon the soil of the vine regions, and 
have appended a list of the exbibitors of California wines. 
Very respectfully, yours, 
WM. P. BLAKE, 
State Commissioner, California, to the Universal Exposition of 1867, 
and Special Agent of the California Wine-producers’ Association. 
Hon. MarsHauu P. WILDER, 
Chairman of Commitice No. 9, Universal Exposition at Paris, 1867. 
WINE-GROWING INTEREST OF CALIFORNIA, 
The wine-growing interest during the past three years has been rapidly increasing in 
importance, and if unfavorable circumstances do not intervene within the next decade, will 
probably outrank in value any single.agricultural product in the State. Our wine-growers 
find a great variety of soil admirably adapted for vineyards, in conjunction with a climate, 
or rather climates, which are more favorable for wine-making than can be had in any portion 
of Europe. On the rolling lands and foot-hills on both the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range 
of mountains, which form the eastern and western boundaries of the State, the soil, though 
varying somewhat in composition and proportion of ingredients, is mainly formed by voleanie 
debris which produces grapes in the highest degree of perfection known. 
The soils along the slope of the Sierra Nevada present a great variety in their appearance 
and composition. Some are derived chiefly from the disintegration of granite and metamorphie 
rocks, and others from clay-slates or sandstones or from a mixture of these materials with 
disintegrated lavas. In extensive regions along the foot-hills the soil is formed chiefly by 
the breaking down of lava and tufaceous deposits, or of the alluvions of ancient rivers which 
are charged with materials of volcanic origin. Some of the soils in the gold region which 
produce good grapes are quite red from the abundance of the sesquioxide of iron; in others 
oxide of iron is in small quantity and the soil has the ordinary clay color. In favorable loca- 
tions very little irrigation is required, and in some places it is not necessary. Where there 
are mining canals or ditches along the hiJl-sides many vineyards below them receive water 
enough by percolation to sustain the vines during the most severe droughts. 
The vines, as a general rule, bear abundantly, the exceptions being in a few localities 
subject to late frosts in the spring, or occasional heated terms of a few days during some 
summers. These exceptions, however, are fully equal in productiveness to the average vine 
lands of France and Germany, and are only mentioned here to show that there are occasional 
imperfections in a climate that would otherwise be without blemish for wine growing. 
The introduction of cultivated vines dates in California back to the establishment of the 
missions of the Catholic priests, who first settled in the southern portion of the State in 1769. 
These priests brought with them three varieties of vines taken from the neighborhood of 
Sevilie, Spain, and which, it was believed, were better suited to the climate of California, 
and were more hardy and productive than any other kinds. Two of these vines (colored 
grapes) flourished well, while the third, a white grape, was soon discarded from cultivation, 
The names of the vines are not now known, and being long acclimated, some of the peculiar- 
ities of the original stock have been changed, so that it is probable the so-called Mission vines 
will never be identified with the parent stock in Spain. General Vallejo, who is probably 
the best authority in the State on the subject, claims that the larger portion of the native 
grapes, cultivated north of Monterey, are a different variety from those grown south of that 
town and commonly known as the Los Angeles grape. This statement is confirmed in part 
by the difference in size, color, shape of bunches and berries, and character of skin, the wine 
made in the different sections of the State also having distinct characteristics of taste and 
