The Italian influence on California winemaking runs deep and spreads wide; from land to winery, terroir to taste, production to marketing. The sonorous Italian family and grape names have eased themselves into the Californian lexicon as easily and ubiquitously as their cuisine.
Italians were among the first European settlers in California, spreading evenly south to north and involved in religious orders and the fishing communities. They navigated the Gold Rush by providing services to the mining communities, forging fortunes by establishing banks, controlling politics, offering nourishment, both for the body – in the form of fish and agricultural produce – and the soul, through theatre and opera.
Successful integration and assimilation were key. The Italian settlers becoming instigators of progress has benefited California at large – and especially the wine industry.
California offers a climate suitable to sustain viticulture, with landscapes as varied, and soils as fragmented and as rich in potential as Italy’s original oenotria. Such a landscape was bound to attract the first settlers and farmers, just as it continues to sustain new generations today.
THE EARLY DAYS
The Italian Swiss Colony, established in 1881 in Asti, Sonoma County, to give Swiss and Italian immigrants a leg up on the wine ladder, quickly became one of the most important wine brands from California (see amusingly dated photo, left).
Many immigrants purchased or planted
