St. Helena (22)
We have included current information way of providing you access to the appellation advocacy groups that represent this area.
St. Helena District: http://appellationsthelena.com/
Eastern Valley Corridor - Silverado Trail
Chateau Boswell: ( http://www.chateauboswellwinery.com/content/our_history.cfm ) A winery located along Silverado Trail east of St. Helena. Their gates don't ever seem to be open. ML=14
Joseph Phelps: (
http://www.jpvwines.com/ ) Created by the gentleman who constructed many wineries before opening his own. He formerly owned the Oakville Grocery outlets which is now owned by
Leslie Rudd. (
http://www.ruddgrp.com/ /) Phelps also donated the land for the recently opened migrant workers housing project located along the Silverado Trail. Located on Taplin, which intersects Silverado Trail. ML=7
Napa Creek: Out of Business. A former 1930's slaughterhouse. ML=46 . The site now operating as (
http://www.kentrasmussenwinery.com/ )
Kent Rasmussen Winery and Ramsay Wines. Bronco Wine Company purchased the Napa Creek label.
Western Valley Corridor - Hwy 29
Beringer: (
http://www.beringer.com/beringer/index.jsp ) (pre-1900s winery site) Australian firm
Foster's Group-Beringer Blass (
http://www.fostersgroup.com/ ) bought this conglomerate out for about $1.5 billion. Located just north of the town of St. Helena. ML=51 Fosters is #5 on the WBN 2006 “Largest Wineries List.” From their Web site:
“The Rhine HouseCompleted in 1884 by Architect Albert Schroepfer, Frederick Beringer's residence has beautiful exterior stonework, stained-glass windows and interior wood paneling - all exhibiting exceptional artistry and craftsmanship. When building his 17-room mansion, Frederick wanted to create a California villa that was reminiscent of the family's impressive old German home at Mainz-on-the-Rhine. Built at a cost of about $28,000 (with the 40 panels ofstained glass accounting for $6,000, nearly a quarter of total constructioncosts) the Rhine House is a classic example of ornate Victorian architecture with its many gables, turrets and ornaments.
Hudson HouseThe Hudson House was built around 1850 and was on the property (although not
in its current location) when the Beringer brothers bought the land in 1875. It
was originally the house of David Hudson, known for his involvement in the Bear
Flag Revolt of1846 in nearby Sonoma, an event that was instrumental in
California winning independence from Mexico. When Frederick began planning his
majestic Rhine House he decided the best location was the spot where the Hudson
House, Jacob's residence, was located. So the Hudson House was moved, pulled on
logs by draft horses about 200ft north to its current location.
Gravity Flow WineryThe Beringer brothers located their winery building against the hillside so they could use gravity flow methods to make their wine, as was the custom in their native Rhine Valley . Construction of the Old Winery began in 1876 and its became operational for the harvest of 1877. Draft horses would bring the gondolas of grapes up the road behind the winery to the third floor. Grapes were crushed in the then state-of-the-art, steam-powered crusher and the must was gravity fed down to the second floor for fermentation. After the wine finished fermenting, it flowed by gravity down to the ground floor for storage and aging,before being bottled and then aged in the tunnels.
Tunnels
Rare among Napa Valley wineries, the aging caves of Beringer were dug into the hillside of Spring Mountain from the late 1870's to the early 1880's. The tedious and strenuous task of hand-chiseling the 1,200 linear feet of tunnels was completed by Chinese immigrant workers. The hillside rock acts as a natural insulator and keeps the temperature in the tunnels at an ideal 58-60 degrees Fahrenheit year-round with a humidity of 75-80%, perfect conditions for storing
wine. “
From Prohibition on:
1920 - 1933: The winery operates through Prohibition by selling sacramental wines under a federal license allowing wine to be made for religious purposes…….
1934: Beringer becomes the first winery to offer public tours, thus beginning the area's tourist winebusiness (tasting was not offered until 1956). To celebrate the end ofProhibition in 1934, Beringer organizes a big festival………
1967: The 91-year old Beringer Winery is named a State Historical Landmark.
1971: MyronNightingale becomes Beringer's fifth winemaker and develops a special botrytised wine that is still made today at the winery and aptly called
“Nightingale”.
1979: Bob Steinhauer becomes vineyard manager, replacing Roy Raymond Jr. Bob and Ed go on to create an incredible partnership. “Bob always says he gives me diamonds, and it's up to me to polish them,” Ed often remarks.
………
2001:Beringer celebrates its 125 th anniversary and the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley . “
Charles Krug: (
http://www.charleskrug.com/ ) (pre-1900s winery site) Peter Mondavi and Family now operate what was once the estate of Cesare Mondavi & Sons (Robert & Peter) family dynasty. Robert and Peter had fist fight resulting in the departure of Robert who went on to build his own empire. Located just north of the town of St. Helena, along Hwy 29. ML=37 Peter & family are #15 on the WBN 2006“Largest Wineries List.” From their web site:
"Founded in 1861 by Charles Krug, the27-year old Prussian immigrant came to America with little besides willpower and a willingness to work hard to build the cornerstone of the first winery in the Napa Valley. He became the major local winery figure of his era, greatly influencing Napa Valley's development as a world-renown wine producing region.
[There is some question about Krug being the first winery. Before he built his winery in St. Helena, Krug made wine for a gentleman named Patchett who had a small winery operation in downtown Napa.]
His leadership was said to be inspirational, and his ideas innovative. Charles Krug introduced the cider press for winemaking, the first of which is still on display at the winery. He carefully selected rootstocks, varietals and vineyard sites - a novel
concept in late 19th Century America. The knowledge he gained and shared
benefited the young California wine industry…………
After his death in 1892 James Moffitt purchased the winery in 1893, holding it in proprietorship through Prohibition. By 1943 he found a pioneering spirit in Cesare and Rosa Mondavi, Italian immigrants with a passion for wine, and sold the winery to them for $75,000.
[The real story is that Krug went bankrupt and his good friend Moffitt purchased the property and leased out the vineyards. Before the Mondavi’s purchased the site though, Moffitt leased it to Louis Stralla, brother of Frank Stralla Cornero who operated off-shore gambling boats in Long Beach during Prohibition, along with his brothers ran booze to Las Vegas, and then went on to build the Star Dust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas -- the Stralla‘s are quite an interesting story!] Cesare Mondavi at 60 years old then spearheaded a dramatic renaissance in the decade that followed. Wine historian Charles Sullivan writes n his book, Napa Wine, 'By the early 1950's it was irrefutable that the Valley's Big Four had been augmented by one - the Charles Krug Winery'.
When Cesare died in 1959, Rosa was named president. Their sons worked at
the helm of the winery operation with Robert as General Manager and Peter as
Vice President. In 1966, Peter became President and Robert moved south to
Oakville and began construction of his own winery.[There is a different version of this story. The brothers actually had a “knock down fight” on the grounds over how the winery should be operated. Momma sided with Peter and Robert was cast out. He would later sue and win over the way the Krug winery proceeds were being distributed.]
Our founder and the designer of this poster-map, John Olney, wrote the following article about Krug winery: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
PART ONE - THE KRUG ESTATE -
THE CHARLES KRUG ERA
Part 1 --Charles Krug Era (Duration: 1860-1892)
(Now owned and operated by the Peter Mondavi
Family)
Source (s):
(1) History of Napa Co. California, 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers;
(2) Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891;
(3) History of Napa County, Wallace, W. E., 1901, Enquirer Print;
(4) Wine Country - A history of Napa Valley - The early years: 1838-1920, Heintz, Wm., 1990, Capra Pres;
(5) Old Napa Valley - The History to 1900, Lin Weber, 1995, Wine Ventures Publishing;
(6) American Vintage - The Rise of American Wine, Paul
Lukacs, 2000, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Charles Krug came to San Francisco, California from Philadelphia in 1852 and was a journalist-editor for Staats Zeitung, the first German newspaper published in California. It originated in New York in 1834. Krug remained at this position until 1854. {The German-American Herman Ridder bought out Staats Zeitung in 1892. Under his ownership it became an American corporate empire known as the media giant Knight-Ridder.}
Krug them moved to the Crystal Springs area of San Mateo where he worked a land claim in attempt to grow grapes. Colonel Agoston Haraszthy was also working grapes in the area. He would become labeled as the man who initiated California wine. How long, and the extent to which these two men knew each other in San Mateo, appears to be undocumented. They did however quickly learn that the cold, damp environment of the peninsula was not at all suitable to wine grape production. Then both men were next found working at the new San Francisco Mint constructed in 1855.
One can only presume that either Haraszthy or Krug, or both, conducted some sort of research in order to determine that they best move to the more agreeable grape growing conditions that could be found north of San Francisco, because that’s where they were subsequently found together in the Carneros area jointly shared by Napa and Sonoma Counties.
The origin of the great Charles Krug ranch begins with his introduction to the family of a man named "Dr." Edward T. Bale. Let me explain the importance of this introduction before going on any further about Krug himself. In 1840, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the Mexican government’s military authority in the northern California area, appointed Bale to be the surgeon-in-chief of his Army. None of my research reference material reports on exactly how he became a “doctor.” Apparently Dr. Bale had no degree and had not been formally trained as a physician. However, there was sufficient evidence of his talents to give Vallejo the confidence to choose him as his surgeon-in-chief. In 1841, when Bale married Maria Guadalupe Soberanes, the niece of Vallejo, he received a 17,000-acre land grant from the Mexican Government via Vallejo’s authority. It was only the fourth land grant awarded since the Mexican's wrestled sovereignty over Mexico -- and its northern area known as Alta California -- away from Spanish rule. Bale’s property stretched from the northern boundary of George Yount's land (the first land grant made in the area), all the way to about Tubbs Lane (Named after the creator of Chateau Montelena winery) in Calistoga. Dr. Bale constructed a gristmill on the western side of his property along the gentle sloping portion of land at the foot of the Mayacamas range.
For those readers unfamiliar with this equipment, it a building in which wheat is separated to extract the grain which in turn is ground under a very large stone wheel to produce flour. During this timeframe, the primary source of power was stream water dropping onto a paddlewheel connected through special gearing that turned the grinding stone.
On the eastern boundary of his land grant, along the Napa River, he constructed a
sawmill.
{California State Historical Landmark No. 359 - Old Bale Mill
-- The restored gristmill can be visited in the historical park of the same name
located on the west side of Hwy 29/128, between St. Helena and Calistoga.
Federal listing - Bale Mill (added 1972 - Building - #72000240)}
In 1858, Isadora married a man named Louis Bruck. Following Bale’s death, she
received the gristmill and surrounding property as part of her inheritance. The
subsequent relatively rapid dilution of the land grant property resulted in the
creation of a number of well known, and still standing, wineries including
Ehlers Estate, Beringer Brothers, Lyman’s winery-now El Molino, Tychson’s
winery-now Freemark Abbey, General Keyes’ Edge Hill winery & distillery-now
owned by Leslie Rudd, Greystone-now Culinary Institute of America, and other
wineries, White Sulfur Springs Spa & Resort, and the city of St. Helena
itself. The Bruck’s would sell the gristmill property about the same time that
Louis became aware of the winemaking talents of Charles Krug.
Bruck’s interest in Krug was generated by the latter’s efforts with a John Patchett
located in the town of Napa. Patchett met Krug in 1858 when he took a trip to
Sonoma. Krug was working with Colonel Agostin (also sometimes written as Agiston or Agoston) Haraszthy -- often called the “Father of California Viticulture” -- and others on a 20-acre vineyard site in Sonoma (eventually known as Buena Vista Society winery). He liked what he saw and asked Krug to come to his winery in Napa and make wine for him using Patchett’s grapes crushed in a cider press. The only other commercial wine production of any significance prior to Krug’s effort for Patchett was that conducted by Colonel Haraszthy in Sonoma in 1857 and Charles Kohler of the San Franciscan wine merchant firm of Kohler & Frohling
in 1855 {The wine was probably made at their large Petaluma winery site).
[Although many writers credit Krug with the first commercial winery
building in Napa County, it is probable that that honor should rightly belong to
John Patchett since Krug would not build his own winery until two years later.]
In 1859, Krug made wine for Louis Bruck on the Bale Mill property and a
year later for the county’s first Caucasian settler - George Yount. Making wines
for the early pioneers David Hudson, John York, George Tucker and Henry Owsley
quickly followed these efforts, all located in or near the heart of the “Hot
Springs Township“ now divided into the two towns known as St. Helena and
Calistoga.[Based on all of these efforts, it could be said that Charles Krug can lay claim to being the “First Consulting Winemaker in Northern California.” ]
{California State Historical Landmark No. 564 - George Yount ‘s original settlement - Located off Hwy 29, go north of Yountville, turn on to Yount Mill Road and follow it easterly as it bends back towards Yountville along the banks of Napa River. There you will find the marker and across from it still stands remnants of the old sawmill}
{California State Historical Landmark No.’s 682 & 683 - Sites of the York and Hudson cabins originally erected in 1845. They were both located on the SW
corner of the intersection of Kortum Canyon Rd.-Lincoln Ave. and Hwy 29/128 in
Calistoga. You may have to move the bush branches and weeds around to read
the plaque. York is credited with discovering the White Sulphur Springs, which
later became the first California resort spa. Hudson would buy property from Dr.
Bale that would become part of the Beringer Brothers winery compound}.
About the time Krug was working with Louis Bruck, he met the other Bale
daughter, Caroline, and in 1860 they married. The dowry for this marriage
included over 500 acres of the Bale land grant bordering Napa River just north
of the town of St. Helena, which included the Bale Sawmill. Krug built his first
winery on this land in 1861. It was a small facility, half dug into the earth
and having only a straw roof over the interior. In 1868, he started construction
of a second and much larger complex on the property. It was to include a
two-story stone winery, distillery, stables and homes. Then in 1874, the
interior of the second winery building was destroyed by fire. His general
manager/winemaker at the time was a young aspiring vintner named Jacob Beringer who would in turn become a well-known figure in producing quality wines. Beringer was reported to have personally attempted to extinguish the fire but to no avail. Because of Krug’s strong drive he immediately began reconstruction of the facility. Jacob Beringer would leave the Krug ranch in 1878 to work exclusively with his brother, Frederick, on the development of his own
winegrowing business. Somewhere about this timeframe, Louis Bruck became Forman of the Krug ranch.
{California State Historical Landmark No. 563 - Founded in 1861 by Charles Krug(1825-1892), this is the oldest operating winery in Napa Valley. The pioneer winemaker of this world-famous region, Krug made the first commercial wine in Napa County at Napa in 1858. Federal Historical listing -Krug, Charles, Winery (added 1974 - Building - #74000542)}
Krug would, over the remaining 18 years of his life, become a major keystone to the development of the winegrowing industry of not only Napa Valley, but for all of California; indeed, for the nation itself. In 1875, Charles Krug founded the St.
Helena Viticultural Society along with other prominent winegrowers of the time.
One of those men included Seneca Ewer. {Ewer was co-owner of Ewer & Atkinson
winery that would eventually be purchased by Georges de Latour and become
Beaulieu Vineyards. It is now owned by Diageo, plc, which is the result of the
merger of Grand Met and Guinness; two British giants.} Krug was the first
president of the Society that would swell in membership over the next few years.
Although the Society was originally formed to spread the word about the tiny
louse, Phylloxera, and its catastrophic damage to the sensitive European
varietals, it appeared to grow into a technical information sharing organization
as well as a marketing arm for the encouragement of new people to join in on
winemaking in upper Napa County. The Society could be viewed as a forerunner of the present day Napa Valley Vintners Association as well as the Wine Institute.
In the late 1870s, the industry had grown to such size that most knowledgeable growers and vintners were concerned with over-production, use of
inferior varietals, misrepresentation in labeling and even wine diluting by
eastern brokers, and the news of the tiny louse, Phylloxera, that was destroying
the great vineyards of France. Political forces were at work pushing the
legislative bodies in Sacramento to come to the rescue of the vineyard owners
and winemakers. Along with other important men of the industry, Krug spoke to
the body in February of 1880 to encourage them to support creation of a state
board to look out for the interest of this rapidly growing agricultural economic
base. They met with success and in the spring of 1880, and the Board of State
Viticultural Commissioners was created. There were seven districts throughout
California, each with a Commissioner appointed by the Governor plus two at-large
Commissioners. Therefore, it can be said politics probably played an important
role in the selection process for designation of each Commissioner. Krug was the
first Commissioner to represent the Napa-Solano-Contra Costa district. He was
also selected to be one of the three officers of the Board: he was chosen to be
Treasurer.
In the early 1880s, Krug and others formed the Napa Valley Wine Company. It was designed to market the company’s wines on a national basis to counter the often fraudulent (watering down) and deceptive (using European names on labels) practices of eastern wine brokers and wholesalers.
The winegrowing business had been good to all, especially in the north valley area
around St. Helena. All of the directors of the newly formed Bank of St. Helena
in 1882 came from the winegrowing industry. They included Krug, Ewer (of Ewer
& Atkinson - now Beaulieu), Judge Serranus Clinton Hastings (of Nook Farms
in Rutherford, which was also purchased by Georges de Latour and absorbed into
Beaulieu, and Hastings Law College located in San Francisco and part of the
University of California organization), William Whittingham Lyman (now El Molino winery), William Scheffler (of Edge Hill winery/distillery - now owned by Leslie
Rudd), Gustave Niebaum (of Inglenook - now owned by Francis Ford Coppola), Henry W. Crabb (of To-Kalon vineyards - now owned mostly by the recent Robert Mondavi and Constellation merger), and other major winery and vineyard owners of the times.{Today, the Bank of St. Helena building is one of the hot nightlife clubs in Napa County. It is called the “1351 Lounge” and named after the street address. Even the original bank vault door remains in the back of the club.} [Since Mr. Olney wrote the article, the Lounge closed and a different business now operate from the site]
However, the 1880s saw the influx of the dreaded phylloxera and year-by-year large acreage of vineyards were producing seriously lower tonnage or just simply died off. Winegrowers were challenged by the costs to replant and then wait for commercial yields to be produced, which amounted to four to five years of growth. By the middle of the decade, like many other great winegrowers of the time, Krug was suffering economic set back. By the beginning of the 1890s about half of the vineyards of Napa County had been lost to this tiny bug. Many winegrowers were over-extended relying heavily on loans to carry them through and Krug was no different. The Napa County Reporter newspaper published an article in 1885 listing all of the debts owed to others by Krug including personal loans from some of the original directors (Carver, Ewer and Niebaum) of the Bank of St. Helena as well as the bank itself. Add to these creditors, the Bank of Napa, Jacob Levi, Sr. (of Levi-Straus), Alfred Tubbs (Chateau Montelena winery) and many more.
Wineries began to collapse. Scheffler bellied up in 1887, Krug finally was forced to insolvency in 1891, about year before his death. Other great winegrowers in financial trouble were Gottleib Groezinger’s winery & distillery operations in Yountville (now known as Vintage 1870 Stores) which went under in 1891, Alfred Tubbs’ Chateau Montelena winery discontinued operations in 1899 and Ewer’s partner, J.B. Atkinson’s vineyard (now part of St. SupÈry winery), also went down in 1899. H.W. Crabb’s To-Kalon winery (vineyards now mostly owned by the R. Mondavi -Constellation merger.) went bankrupt. Compounding the Phylloxera problem was the growing temperance movement. Even in Napa County, where so much of the economy had become based on the production of wine, there were serious candidates running under the banner of the Prohibition Party. Maine was the first state to vote itself dry in 1851. However, the real struggle to abolish alcohol as an evil beast of mankind had begun in the post-civil war era. It took a strong hold on the public’s conception of alcohol consumption in the mid 1870s with the formation of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). It gained its most significant notoriety with the axe-welding Carrie Moore Nation. Kansas was the second dry state (1880), and over the decade, at least five more state would vote to go dry.
In 1888, William B. Bourn, II, and Everett J. Wise envisioned a sort of
communal economic approach to solving the dreadful social and economic dilemmas that seemed to be facing the industry. They began construction of the Bourn & Wise Winery; probably the largest and most expensive stone winery to be
built in California, if not the entire wine world. It was the first to use the
newly discovered source of power called electricity and light bulbs to provide
continuous and safe illumination after dark fell. What the partners offered was
to build a facility in which they would crush the grapes and the participating
growers could store their wine in their own space, until Bourn & Wise found
a buyer at the price that grower could accept. The grower would be paid when
Bourn & Wise were paid from the buyer. Alternatively, the grower could go
ahead sell the grapes directly to Bourn & Wise for immediate payment.
However, the growers were not fond of this method of resolving the agricultural
crisis of the time and it was never implemented. In 1891, Wise sold his interest
to Bourn. {The Bourn & Wise Winery probably became best known when it was
under ownership of the California Wine Association, then by The Christian
Brothers, and today by the Culinary Institute of America.} Charles Krug died in
November of 1892, just a couple years shy of the formation of the great
California Wine Association (CWA). The original membership in the Association
consisted of the Napa Valley Wine Company (which included Charles Carpy and all
of his holdings -- Uncle Sam winery, Greystone - now the Culinary Institute of
America, and C. Carpy & Sons -- Krug and others), the four major wine
broker-merchants located in San Francisco (Kohler & Frohling, Kohler and Van
Bergen, S. Lachman & Co. and B. Dreyfus & Co.), and others. The
formation of the CWA would ensure the failure of the Bourn and Wise scheme and
thus their winery. Bourn himself had given up and sold “Greystone” to Charles
Carpy in the year the CWA was formed, although the Bourn family continued to own their original family estate and winery south of St. Helena.
"PART TWO OF KRUG ESTATE --THE JAMES K, MOFFITT ERA
PRELIMINARY DRAFT - HISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT
(last updated March 24, 2005)
Copyright by John M. Olney, February 12,
2005. All rights reserved.
Part 2 -- 2nd Krug Ranch Owner
James
Kennedy Moffitt (Duration: 1892-1943)
(Now owned and operated by the Peter
Mondavi Family)
Source(s):
(1) History of Napa Co. California, 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers;
(2) Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891;
(3) History of Napa County, Wallace, W. E., 1901, Enquirer Print;
(4) Wine Country - A history of Napa Valley - The early years: 1838-1920, Heintz, Wm., 1990, Capra Pres;
(5) Old Napa Valley - The History to 1900, Lin Weber, 1995, Wine Ventures
Publishing;
(6) Harvests of Joy, Robert Mondavi, 1998, Harcourt Brace:
(7) American Vintage - The Rise of American Wine, Paul Lukacs, 2000,
Houghton Mifflin Co.;
(8) website: oldandsold.com;
(9) website: Charleskrug.com
Charles Krug was in serious financial trouble in the mid-1880s and declared insolvent in the early 1890s, which led to the subsequent sale of the property. The deeds of this man are well documented and you might wonder why he was allowed to fail or why the winegrowing community didn’t come to his financial rescue? Well, it actually did. The list of his creditors included not only lending institutions but also most of the individual directors of the Bank of St. Helena who personally loaned him money. He had apparently used up every resource available to him but to no avail. The buyer of the insolvent Krug ranch as stipulated by Old and Sold Auctioneer web site literature was,“ his close friend and admirer, James K. Moffitt, who used the residence and gardens as a country home. The vineyards and winery were leased until Prohibition forced them into a dormant period.”
In the “Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California," The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, it is said “He died in 1892, leaving only two daughters to carry on. They continued, with the help from a cousin, until Prohibition when the winery
closed. It remained in the hands of a caretaker-owner until Cesare Mondavi
bought the property in 1943." However, William F. Heintz, in his book “Wine
Country - A History of Napa Valley” listed five siblings: “… Charles Jr., died
in infancy, At Krug’s funeral daughters Linda, Anita and Lolita were present and
a son Karl Krug (possibly with a middle name of Charles for he afterward went by
that name).” My research to date has yet to reveal which two siblings were
involved in the continued operations of the winegrowing operations. However the
cousin that is mentioned was Bismark Bruck.
The uncle of the Krug children was Louis Bruck who died in 1881. Bruck was the second person for which Krug had made wine before starting his own winery, at which Louis later became Forman. Bruck married the other daughter - Isadora - of Dr. Edward Turner Bale and his wife, Maria Guadalupe Soberanes (Niece of General Vallejo). Of the children they produced, a son named Bismark Bruck eventually took over the position as Forman of the Krug ranch following in his father’s footsteps.
Who was this cousin, Bismark Bruck? His political career included being
a three-time State Assemblyman, a member, and once Chairman, of the Napa Board of Supervisors, and member of the Board of Trustees (now called council persons) for St. Helena. Besides being manager of the Krug Winery, he owned his own grape juice company established in 1909. But he was more than just what these obituary-type summary comments describe. Bismark was instrumental in moving growers to graft foreign premium varietals on to Phylloxera-resistant American varietal rootstocks. He replanted the vines on the former Krug vineyards - renamed the Moffitt vineyards - and he sold bench grafts in the hundreds of
thousands in the early 1900s.
His political abilities became important as the experiment called “Prohibition” approached. The 14-year period when the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution was enforced does not do justice to the actual strength of the movement. Long before January 18, 1920, when alcoholic beverages were banned, many communities - indeed whole states - had already adopted ordinances, which outlawed the consumption of alcohol. Maine went dry in 1851. Other states that was dry before the implementation of the 18th Amendment included Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, North Carolina, Mississippi and Tennessee. All of these states went dry between 1880 and 1909. The long arm of the temperance movement reached Napa in 1901. The spirit of Carrie Nation, member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), who had just destroyed a saloon, inspired a similar act in Napa. Lin Weber, in her book, "Old Napa Valley - The History to 1900," reports that Carrie Nation’s act seemed to have encouraged a Dr. C. H. Farman of Napa to do a similar act in a downtown Napa saloon a few months later.
Bruck was one of the initial members of the Napa County Viticultural Protective Association formed around 1914. This organization was designed primarily to fight the “Drys” who were attempting to move California towards Prohibition as soon as possible and well before the 18th Amendment was to take force. There was also a California Grape Protective Association (CGPA) of which Bruck was a member. These were most difficult times for the alcoholic beverage makers whether it is distilled liquor, beer or wine. Hard booze was the primary culprit of the Drys, but beer and wine were being included in the temperance movement to stop all consumption of alcohol. It is here that the wine industry probably made their most critical error, which hurt all of the industry. In attempt to keep their own form of beverage available in the market place, the wine and beer producers began disassociating themselves from the distilled spirits producers. This pitted the alcohol beverage makers against each other thereby assisting the efforts of the “drys” to ban all alcoholic beverages.
The legitimate political movement towards making Napa “dry” started just as early as it did anywhere else on the continent. In the book, “History of Napa Co. California,” 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers reported that “At the general election in 1855, the question of the prohibition of liquor was submitted to the people, and the result in Napa County was; Prohibition --yes 198; Prohibition --no 205.” Napa County winegrowing industry got its second major scare in the election year of 1908. Heintz, in his book, “Wine Country - A History of Napa Valley “ cited that in north St. Helena, the Lodi precinct (area north of St. Helena) voted to go “dry.” Fortunately, this was a minority view as other precincts voted for “wet” status. However, in the 1912 election voting, the ever increasing popularity of the Dry movement could be seen as having grown significantly - about 40% of the county was willingly to see the wine industry terminated by Prohibition!
But, the Viticultural Protective Associations came too late to have the necessary impact to counter the dry’s movement. In 1917, in response to the national plan for the ongoing events of World War I, all production of alcohol from grain products had been outlawed because grains were needed for the war efforts. The law also
disallowed importation of whiskey. However, Brandy could still be produced but
the President of the United States was given the authority to halt production of
alcohol for wine and beer products if he felt it necessary. As a consequence of
these federal actions, California passed a law in the same year requiring all
counties to reduce the numbers of saloons that could exist in each community. In
her book mentioned previously, Lin Weber indicated that for Napa County this
meant a reduction from 23 to only 12 saloons countywide. The law required that
the lucky 12 saloons raise money to compensate those saloons that would have to
close. The majority of the 12 surviving saloons were located in the town of
Napa.
Just before the 18th Amendment went into effect, Bismark Bruck introduced legislation before the California Assembly that would cause a review of the winegrowing industry to determine the economic impact of Prohibition on
that industry. This was done in hopes that all would receive some sort of
compensation for the anticipated losses in business and their investments do
date. But his efforts would fail to be carried. Meanwhile at Krug winery, Bruck
was attempting to find a way to produce a nonalcoholic wine that would taste
like wine. The experiments failed to produce favorable results and all but for a
handful of wineries in the Northern California area, were shut down by the
“Feds.”
Bismark Bruck was very active in the organization, the Native Sons Parlors of California. While he presided over it he spearheaded the restoration of the old Bale Gristmill, built in 1846, which was officially dedicated in 1925 as California historical site # 359. The mill and adjacent land had been deeded to the Native Sons of the Golden West by Mrs. William Whittingham Lyman (wife of the builder of what today is known as El Molino winery). The Federal listing was added in 1972 (Building #72000240). It is fortunate that Bismark was able to complete this effort, as the year 1926 was when he expired.
While Bruck was busy doing Napan business, the landlord of the Krug ranch property was very busy doing his Bay Area thing. James Kennedy Moffitt (JKM) was descendant from a wealthy San Franciscan family. He was born in 1865 to James Moffitt and Delia Kennedy. The senior James was a printer who became a member of Blake, Moffitt & Towne: a prominent San Franciscan firm. What really stimulated my interest to find out more about Moffitt was the wording in the quote from the Old and Sold Auctioneer web site literature that Moffitt was Krug’s “ ...close friend and admirer…” Add to this statement that which is made in the Peter Mondavi web site literature: "At Charles Krug's funeral in 1892, hundreds of mourners listened to Frederick Beringer deliver the eulogy in German. James Moffitt, a business associate of Charles Krug's and a San Francisco banker, took possession of the winery. Remarkably, Moffitt held onto the property through Prohibition, and began looking for a winemaking family to carry on in the spirit of Charles Krug. He found that pioneering spirit in Cesare and Rosa Mondavi, to whom he sold the winery in 1943 for $75,000.“
Robert Mondavi, in his autobiography, “Harvests of Joy,“ discusses the meeting at which he and his father, Cesare, meet with Moffitt, in San Francisco, at his office at the Crocker First National Bank back in 1943. Robert reports how he marveled at his father’s ability to negotiate. He recalled how the two older gentlemen discussed family businesses and the pleasure derived from having children to take over. Robert also recalled that Moffitt indicated that he really wanted to hold on to the Krug Ranch property but that none of his children nor their husbands desired to carry on the winegrowing business, thus he was a reluctant seller. Robert goes on to indicate that while his dad and Moffitt continued their discussions, Moffitt received a call from another interested buyer to whom Moffitt indicated that he had just sold the property to Cesare and his boys.
JFM, born in 1865, was about 21 years of age when he graduated from college in 1886. Krug was born in 1825 so he was about 61, or 40 years older than JFM when the later graduated from college. These age differences alone bring into question just how close these two men could have been. Add to this the fact that Krug died just six years after JKM graduated from college. Based on my research results to date, I suspect that the actual Moffitt that was close to Krug was not James Kennedy but rather his father, James. Since Krug was a reporter/editor for the first German newspaper on the west coast, I’m currently guessing that it was the paper business they brought Krug and the senior Moffitt together. My continuing research should confirm which gentleman was the one claimed to be a “business associate“ and “close friend and admirer” of Charles Krug.
James Kennedy Moffitt was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley Campus, with a degree in Education (B.S. 1886), which was followed by the bestowment of a LL.D. (hon.) in 1941. Moffitt was an adventurer as evidenced by his association with the Sierra Club founded by John Muir, its first President in 1892. In the company of James S. Hutchinson and Robert D. Pike, on July 24, 1903, James ascended Mount Sill (14,100 approx.) and the next day he ascended North Palisade (14,254) with Joseph N. Le Conte (the second president of the Sierra Club) and James S. Hutchinson. These are the first recorded successful conquests of these Sierra Nevada Peaks.
Continuing in his father’s footsteps, JKM was an active officer and director in the paper-manufacturing firm of Blake, Moffitt & Towne. He was in the lucrative water business during the growth of the peninsula. The Bear Gulch Water Company was incorporated in 1889. This company grew and ended up providing water to the communities of Atherton, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, portions of Redwood City, and Woodside, all located on the peninsula in the San Mateo area. In 1903 the University of California purchased 80 percent of the stock of this company and by 1919, purchased the remaining shares. During a number of years while associated to the water company now owned by the University, Moffitt was a member of the U.C. Board of Regents. His first service included the period from 1924 to 1940. In 1934, JKM became President of the Bear Gulch Water Company. In June 15, 1936, the California Water Service Company acquired the properties of the Bear Gulch Water Company from the University. Moffitt then served on the Board of Regents again during the period 1941 to 1948. He served as Chairman of that Board during the period 1942-1948.
Moffitt’s involvement in the water rights on the peninsula parallel those of another man who operated a water company on the Peninsula and who also played a significant role in Napa Valley winegrowing. You may recall this man from Part One of my Krug series -- William Bowers Bourn, II (of Bourn & Wise winery-now the Culinary Institute of America). In 1908 Bourn held the majority interest in the Spring Valley Water Company controlling dams, reservoirs and pipeline systems distributed among five Bay Area counties. Bourn’s water company was San Francisco’s water supply for nearly seventy years. To counter Bourn’s hold on water rights, reformers conceived the controversial Hetch Hetchy plan in 1901 to tap the waters of the Sierra and build a publicly owned reservoir in Yosemite National Park. This set up a classical “developer versus environmentalist” battle that featured city officials against environmentalist John Muir and the very wealthy capitalist, William Bourn. The city eventually prevailed which crushed the morale of John Muir and the Sierra Club membership. Throughout all of this battling, JKM must have had had to contend with water rights backlash for the Bear Gulch Water Company.
JKM sat on the board of the Schmidt Lithograph Company that opened offices all along the West Coast including their headquarters at
Second and Bryant Streets in San Francisco. Lithograph printing grew as a commercial art form when growers began creating multi-colored labeling on their wooden crates. The building’s clock
tower was a landmark keeping commuters over the years informed of just how late or early they were for work. Sadly the old clock is no longer in existence.
Pacific Improvement Co was another corporate directorship for Moffitt.
This company was the developer of the plush Pacific Grove area of Monterey,
California.
Performing on the Board of Regents of the University of California had additional business advantages to its board members. In 1904, the University Land and Improvement Company included among its owners, Moffitt along with Jane K. Sather, and Phoebe Apperson Hearst and other prominent figures of the community. This body was the original developer of The Cloyne Court Hotel,
which later became a residency hall.
Moffitt was instrumental in the formation of the Bancroft Library of the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley. The university bought The Bancroft Library (named for Hubert Howe Bancroft) in the fall of 1905. Besides the initial donations to purchase the collection, a number of leading Bay Area citizens pledged to make annual donations to support the operational costs of the library. Besides Moffitt, donors included William B. Bourn (Bourne & Wise winery-now the Culinary Institute of America), William H. Crocker and Phoebe Hearst. Later, Moffitt’s own highly valuable personal library would be donated to the University and established with his name to honor the donation and years of service to the University.
His brother was Dr. Herbert C. Moffitt for whom an entire hospital wing is named at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). {Incidentally, in 1989, I
spent almost two months in the cardiac intensive care unit and ward at Moffitt-UCSF Hospital recovering from heart failure and had no idea that I would
eventually be finding out so much about the Moffitt’s and their connection to
Napa Valley.}
Moffitt was a member of all the prestigious clubs in San Francisco including the Pacific Club and Bohemian Club. James K. Moffitt died in 1955 leaving quite a legacy.
1 Comments:
ANDREW MOFFITT said... IT's FUNNY THAT ALL THAT THIS MAN HAD HE LEFT NOTHING TO MY FATHER FOR WHOM HE WAS NAMED AFTER. SO HIS LEGACY IS A LITTLE JADED ANDREW MOFFITT
Charles Shaw: Out of Business. ML=57 .
Bronco Wine Company purchased this label and it became famous under the nickname "Two-Buck Chuck" Now
Benessere Vineyards occupy the site.
http://www.benesserevineyards.com/benessere/index.jsp )
Domaine Napa: Out of business. The name when originally opened as
Domaine de Napa. ML=24. Site then became home to
Quail Ridge (once owned by Beringer) which was sold to
Rutherford Benchmarks which was headed up by
Anthony Bell, now a partner in
Bell Cellars. Rutherford Benchmarks bellied up and the Quail Ridge name was sold to
Bronco Wine Company (No Web site).
Esquisse, pronounced "s KISS," which means, "rough sketch" when translated from French,) then operated out of the site. Four small wineries were using the site as a “collective” tasting room but Esquisse folded. Now the site is
Alpha Omega winery (
http://www.aowinery.com/ ). Located on the intersecting corner of Mee Lane and Hwy 29/128/St. Helena Hwy.
Ehlers Lane: (pre-1900s winery sites:) Owned by (
http://www.fondationleducq.org/)
The Jean & Sylviane Leducq Foundation of France and renamed (
http://www.ehlersestate.com/ehlers/index.jsp )
Ehlers Estate. The owners have essentially put the property back together as it was in the 1880s. Located on Lodi lane which intersects with Hwy 29 north of St. Helena. ML=50 For historical information, click here:
http://www.ehlersestate.com/ehlers/page/history.jsp
Fairmont: Out of Business was last located in town. ML=82
Flora Springs: (
http://www.florasprings.com/ ) /(pre-1900s winery sites) A winery operation and residential compound created out of two pre-1900 wineries. Located against the hills at the end of West Zinfandel Lane which intersects Hwy 29 just before entering St. Helena. Their tasting room, however, is located along Hwy 29 near the Dean & Deluca outlet. ML=27
Additional historical notes are in development related to this two winery sites.
Folie A Deux: (
http://www.folieadeux.com/ ) Has changed hands frequently since the late 1980s with the latest owner being
Trinchero Family (
http://www.tfewines.com/wines.html ) who created the famous White Zinfandel label at their (
http://www.sutterhome.com/home.php )
Sutter Home facility in Napa Valley. Trinchero also owns
Napa Cellars. (
http://www.napacellars.com/ ) It is located along Hwy 29 across the road from the St. Helena Outlet Stores just north of St. Helena. ML=76 The Family is #6 on the WBN 2006 “Largest Wineries List.” They have moved the Folie A duex label to the Napa Cellars site and built the new Trinchaero Family winery on the site of the former Folie Au Deux label.
Merlion: Out of business. this is another label created by Gary Vierra who also founded founded Vichon (eventually purchased by family members of the Robert Mondavi clan) and once was executive director of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association. ML=40
Merryvale: (
http://www.merryvale.com/ ) One of the first wineries built as Prohibition was about to be repealed. Site has a rich history starting with the first Napa Valley location for the Mondavi’s to produce bulk Napa Valley wines. Located along the highway just as one enters St. Helena from the south. ML=41
Milat: (
http://www.milat.com/ ) Brothers making consistently good wines. Located just south of St. Helena ML=42.
Napa Ridge: Originally was produced by Beringer as second label much like CK label for Charles Krug and the Woodbridge label for Robert Mondavi. ML= 78 .
Bronco Wine Company purchased this label.
Prager Port: (
http://www.pragerport.com/ ) A really fun guy with which to share port. One can almost miss this location: it is on Lewelling, a narrow street adjacent to Sutter Home along Hwy 29. ML=56
Quail Ridge: Out of Business. ML=69. Moved among many sites and owners. Had no permanent facility of its own. Rutherford Benchmarks (See Domaine Napa above for more) was its last owner and they went bankrupt.
Bronco Wine Company purchased this label.
Raymond: (
http://www.raymondvineyards.com/ ) Worked at Beringer winery during and following Prohibition and married into the Beringer family. Kirin Beer, of Japan, is a controlling partner. Located on Zinfandel Lane between Hwy 29 and Silverado Trail. ML=69
Shadow Brook: No longer in operation. ML=20 . Now site of (
http://www.kelhamvineyards.com/home.cfm )
Kelham Vineyards. Located on Zinfandel Lane near the intersection with Hwy 29.
Sullivan: (
http://www.sullivanwine.com/ ) A quiet, steady workhorse winery. Located on Galleron Lane just off of Hwy 29. ML=77
Sunny St. Helena: A second label formerly used by Merryvale. (
http://www.merryvale.com/)
For historical notes see Merryvale above. ML=53
Whitehall Lane: (
http://www.whitehalllane.com/ ) Original owners were the Finkelsteins who now own Judds Hill winery and MicroCrush. Site went through a few owners over past few years including a Japanese firm who completed renovations to the site and now owned by the Leonardini Family. Located along the Hwy 29 just north of where the Napa Valley Wine Train Tracks cross from the west side to the east side of Hwy 29. ML=83
Western Hills - Spring Mountain Road
This is a road with its own advocacy/marketing arm, the Spring Mountain District found at this Web site:.
Spring Mountain District: http://www.springmountaindistrict.com/home.php.
Spring Mountain: (
http://www.springmtn.com/ ) Located on Spring Mountain Road which runs between St. Helena to Sonoma County, near Santa Rosa. ML=74 From the Spring Mountain Web site:
“Perhaps no property in Napa Valley has generated more interest than Spring
Mountain Vineyard, the setting for the prime time soap opera Falcon Crest in the
‘80’s. Yet the vineyard and winery almost disappeared from public view shortly
after Swiss financier Jacob Safra acquired the historical estate in 1991.
That’s about to change as the winery, near St. Helena, opens to public tours once again.
The famous TV program is really just a footnote to the property’s long history. Today’s 850-acre Spring Mountain Vineyard includes four historic properties, two prominent in Napa’s wine heritage – La Perla Vineyards and Winery (later called Draper Vineyards) and Chateau Chevalier. Also included in today’s Spring Mountain property are Streblow Vineyards and Spring Mountain itself, which began life as Miravalle.
In the last decade, the property has been transformed into a showpiece of modern viticulture —and environmental sensitivity. Most of 225 acres of vineyards have been, or will be, replanted.
A rich history
In October 1992, under management of Tom Ferrell, Safra bought the remnants of the old Miravalle/Spring Mountain property at a bank foreclosure. It had last been owned by Mike Robbins, who bought the property in the mid 1970’s. The property once contained 800 acres planted primarily in olive groves in the 1880’s by San Francisco businessman Tiburcio Parrott.
His old stone Victorian, Villa Madrona, some uninspiring white wine inventory and 25 acres of vines remained on the property when Safra bought it. It also contained a long-abandoned 90-ft. cave behind the ruins of the old 4000-case winery, which has since been rebuilt.
In 1993, Safra expanded his holdings, buying contiguous Streblow Vineyard, a
30-acre property with a small modern winery.
That year, he also bought Chateau Chevalier, a historic 120-acre property owned by the late Gil Nickel of Far Niente fame. It had been terraced in 1985 and planted on AXR-1, a grapevine rootstock beloved by phylloxera lice. It, like the rest of the vineyards, had to be replanted, a huge expense on the steep slopes, one reason Safra was able to acquire the land reasonably.
Chateau Chevalier itself is a magnificent twin-turreted stone winery built in 1891 by Fortune Chevalier. A mansion nearby burned and is now a ruin, but the property was turned into a home by other owners in 1971.
The winery building has been since restored to its earlier configuration and the residence removed, but Chateau Chevalier is virtually inaccessible on marginal roads so it is used for wine storage.
The pearl of the acquired property, however, is Draper Vineyard, which Safra acquired in 1996. This 435-acre site includes some of the most diverse land on Spring Mountain, an eastern outcropping of the vast Mayacamas that separate Napa and Sonoma valleys.
On the Draper property is the old stone La Perla cellar built in the 1870’s by Charles Lemme from Germany. He bought 70 acres next to Jacob Schram’s land and planted Cabernet in 1873. The land was later owned by Claus Schilling of the San Francisco spice family and bought in the mid 1940’s by Joseph Draper.
Part of the Draper property had once been owned by the Beringer brothers; it was their first vineyard other than 20 acres of Mission grapes around the winery. In 1885, they planted 60 acres of vines in the rugged hills, though later sold it because it was too expensive to farm. The property is now called Beringer Flats in tribute to them.”
Calistoga (7)
Clos Pegase: (
http://www.clospegase.com/ ) Owned by Jan Schrem and wife, Mitsuko. Their "radically designed" winery complex stirred mixed reactions in the community. ML=17
Cuvaison: (
http://www.cuvaison.com/ ) Owned by a Swiss firm headed up by the Schmidheiney family. The brothers are listed in the Forbes list of wealthiest in the world. ML=19
Hanns Kornell: Out of Business. (pre-1900s winery sites:) Hanns filed bankruptcy in the 1990s. ML=36 . The winery site is now known as (
http://www.frankfamilyvineyards.com/index.jsp )
Frank Family Vineyards. Rich Frank is a former President/Chairman of Walt Disney Studios. From the Larkmead Vineyards Web site:
“Felix Salmina. The Salmina family arrived in the Napa Valley from Switzerland in the 1860s, and in 1892, bought a wooden winery and vineyards. Felix Salmina had learned to make wine in Switzerland and set about converting the old wooden winery into a much larger winemaking facility, built of stone quarried from the nearby hills and expanding the vineyard into Larkmead Vineyards.
[Prior to this, the Salmina family built a stone winery back in Conn Valley - which is adjacent to the Buehler winery (shown on the Series “B” poster-map) - but for reasons unknown to date they quickly abandoned it]
In the early days at Larkmead, wine grapes sold for $14 a ton and wine for a
penny a bottle. Prohibition hit hard, but Larkmead Vineyards was able to survive
by selling grapes and making sacramental wine. By the late 1930s, releasing wine
under its own label again, Larkmead had built an impressive reputation, regarded
as the smallest of the 'big four wineries' in Napa Valley alongside Beaulieu [Now owned by the international conglomerate, Diageo of Great Britain], Inglenook [Now renamed Rubicon and owned by Francis Ford Coppola] and Beringer [Now owned by the international congolmerate Foster‘s of Australia]. Indeed Andre Tchelistcheff, the legendary Russian, French-trained enologist who worked
at Beaulieu in 1938, talked of four "outstanding wine processing plants:
Inglenook, Beaulieu, Larkmead and Beringer".
Felix and his sons produced between 100,000 cases of quality wine each year with blends such as 'White Chianti', 'Chablis' or 'Burgundy' and also varietal wines including Cabernet and Zinfandel. Significantly in 1937 Larkmead gained several first places at the California State Fair, and during the same year was awarded a 'diplome d'honneur' from the Paris Exposition, delighting locals that Napa Valley wines could compete so well with the French. Clearly industry leaders of their time, the Salminas chaired many local wine organizations and contributed much to the development and promotion of Napa Valley wine. After Felix's death
in 1940, the family sold Larkmead Vineyards in 1943 to a Chicago based bottler and distributor, Bragno & Co. The property was later resold to National Distillers and, in 1948, to the Solaris.”
From plaque on the wall of the winery:
Larkmead Winery
Kornell Cellars
“Felix Salmina arrived from Switzerland in the 1860's and in 1892 purchased this winery that had been established in 1884 by Lillian Hitchcock Coit. Felix converted the winery into a larger facility using stone quarried from nearby hills and expanded the vineyards. Initially grapes sold for $5.00 per ton and wine for 5
cents a gallon. After prohibition, Larkmead developed a reputation as "one of
the outstanding wine processing plants" in the Napa Valley. It was here that
Hans Kornell produced sparkling wines. In 1993 the Frank family took over
the operations and continues to produce both sparkling and still wines.
Dedicated April 17, 2004 By Sam Brannan Chapter #1004 - E Clampus Vitus “
From the Frank Family web site:
“…First constructed as the Larkmead Winery in 1884, the building was refinished
with native sandstone from the nearby hills in 1906 and still stands tall today. The massive stone edifice is considered an archetype of California’s wine country; it appears on the National Register of Historical Places and is listed as a Point of Historical Interest in the state of California….Once owned by wine legend Hans Kornell, the winery originally secured its reputation with sparkling wines. Five sparkling wines are handcrafted today in the old building: Brut, Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, occasionally the Rouge and Reserve. All of these are made in the traditional French methode champenoise style. ……”
Rombauer: (
http://www.rombauervineyards.com/) A custom crusher for many in their start up days and continuing to date. A partner with Rich Frank in numerous winery projects. ML=60
Stonegate: The Spauldings sold their original Stonegate winery complex to Ray Duncan owner of
Silver Oak (
http://www.silveroak.com/ ) and it has been renamed
Twomey. (
http://www.twomeycellars.com/ ) ML= 75 . However, the (
http://www.stonegatewinery.com/stonegate/index.jsp )
Stonegate label continues. The ownership is The California Wine Company. Paul D. Croft, President & Chief Executive Officer. They now make their wines at Laird.
Vincent Arroyo: (
http://www.vincentarroyo.com/ ) Created winery in an old barn dating back to the pre-1900s. Located just north of the fairgrounds in the town. ML=4
Wermuth: (Has no web site) An interesting tasting experience. ML= 58
