Briscoe's wine history “Crush” subject of Readers' next reading

Agoston Haraszthy was but one of many whose inspiration, dogged hard work and good luck made California wine one of the most successful agricultural industries in the country, if not the world.|

We all know the story: Gen. Mariano Vallejo had a few vines, Agoston Haraszthy showed up with some European cuttings, and the California wine industry was born.

Even the mildest skeptic might assume that is something of a simplification. According to the new book 'Crush: The Triumph of California Wine,' by John Briscoe, the legend of Agoston Haraszthy was but one of many stories of inspiration, dogged hard work and good luck that made California wine one of the most successful agricultural industries in the country, if not the world.

Briscoe's brief bio says he's a poet, author and lawyer, with several books and articles on law and history. He's also apparently a wine-lover, or at least a wine-history lover: the book is ripe with detail on the people who created the California wine industry, told in efficient, if unspectacular style. Don't expect a colorful saga of romance, wild success and crushing (sic) failure; instead, read 'Crush' for the facts.

Locals know there's a wine history library in St. Helena, and another in Healdsburg. Each is worth a visit and an immersion, but with 'Crush,' Briscoe has clearly done that work for us. He has unearthed forgotten pioneer vintners and growers, a surprising number of whom came to California after 1849 for the gold, but made their fortune with the grapes. Even James Marshall established a vineyard in Coloma, where he made his celebrated gold strike in 1848.

The book bursts with obscure facts and faces, and if there is any shortcoming, it's the absence of an index: Where does one find, for instance, the story of Italian Swiss Colony, one of Sonoma County's most successful wine-making operations which started as a worker's collective for unemployed immigrants? (NOTE: As Brisoce pointed out, the review copy received by the IT was not the final published version, which does indeed have an index.)

While 'the Count' is given his due, Sonoma was not the only county to experience explosive growth in wine production at about the same time, and other champions helped the industry explode.

For instance George Yount planted the Napa Valley's first vineyards in 1838, 20 years before the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society got rolling; John Marsh started growing wine grapes in Contra Costa County in 1837; and Jean Louis Vignes – described by Briscoe as 'California's first full-time professional winemaker,' was successfully making wine in Los Angeles in 1833.

In fact for the first five decades of the 19th century, it was Southern California that was the center of the wine industry – especially in San Gabriel, probably because of the proximity of the mission there.

Briscoe's subtitle, 'The triumph of California Wine,' telegraphs the challenges that the industry overcame, which helps structure the book: the overcoming of 'four devastating setbacks' the winemakers faced. The first was phylloxera infestation in the late 19th century, the second the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, the third the failure of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition – though the expo's failure to live up to its own high expectations may not qualify as 'devastating' in any other business.

The fourth of course was Prohibition, followed as it was by the Great Depression and World War II. Setbacks, indeed, but as any winemaker will tell you, the vines like to be stressed.

John Briscoe will read from 'Crush: The Triumph of California Wine,' at Readers' Books on Thursday, Sept. 6, starting at 7 p.m. Readers' is located at 130 W. Napa St., Sonoma.

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