Vallejo grape harvest keeps history alive

Salvador Dali is quoted as saying, “Great wine requires a mad man to grow the vine, a wise man to watch over it, a lucid poet to make it, and a lover to drink it.”

Whether Gen. Mariano Vallejo was a mad man, wise man, poet or lover, he was among the very first people in California to grow and produce wine. And the vines still grow at his home on Third Street West.

Last Thursday – a hot, sunny day in early October – found Ron Chapman keeping that history alive as he stood over a zinfandel grapevine, clipping stalks and gathering grapes for harvest in the small vineyard of Lachryma Montis. The land is now run by the California State Parks service, and the vines serve as a living memorial to a man and family who once owned thousands of acres of Sonoma County.

“This will be the first harvest since the most recent restoration effort began,” said Chapman, a former technology professional.

He moved to Sonoma in 2001 and initially owned his own small vineyards, where he made chardonnay and merlot. He now spends every Wednesday morning looking after the Vallejo vines and otherwise helping with preservation of Lachryma Montis, which is Latin for “Tears of the Mountain.”

“I first saw a very old listing of the types of grapes planted in each of about 15 or more rows about 10 years ago. Many of the varieties were very unique,” Chapman said.

[caption id="attachment_16861" align="alignnone" width="300"] Robbi Pengelly/Index-Tribune

Jobina Forderm and Ria Van Ornum, front, Ron Chapman and Nina Keene volunteered to harvest the grapes at the Gen. Vallejo Home on Thursday. Robbi Pengelly/Index-Tribune[/caption]

Six different wine and table grapes were harvested by a handful of dedicated volunteers, who seek to preserve both the wine and Sonoma’s rich history. At its peak, Vallejo’s vineyards grew more then 18,000 vines.

“Vallejo can justly be called the first commercial vintner of Sonoma County,” said Vincent Carosso in his book “The California Wine Industry, 1830-1895.”

According to Chapman and Lynn Luzzi, an employee of the park, the current vines have been planned and nurtured for more then two years. The small vineyard itself is a replica and restoration project initially created in 1962 with grape varieties that California State Park specialists said would have been found in Gen. Vallejo’s original vineyards.

The restoration has been difficult. Over 52 years, some of the vines were destroyed by foraging animals and natural environmental hazards. In an effort to preserve the historic atmosphere of the home, no modern fencing or technologies have been employed to grow the grapes. Cuttings from vines have been stored and later grafted onto root stock vines.

“We planted a variety of cactus around the vineyard, as a way to keep the deer and other animals from eating the vines,” said Luzzi. “Most of the integrity of the park has been lost in the years since Vallejo lived here, but we are trying to restore it as close as we can.”

The hard work, and even the setbacks, add to a feeling that history has been preserved and that the volunteers’ efforts will soon be rewarded soon enough.

“This year has been the first season in over 20 years that the vines have produced enough grapes to harvest,” said Chapman. “There weren’t a lot of grapes, but we think we have enough that we might just produce some of the finest zinfandel wine for 2014 in Sonoma.”

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.