THE VINE
Celebrating Our History
and Our New Arrivals
By Kyle Fanthorpe
Kyle Fanthorpe is a UC Santa Cruz alum and Gilroy native. Over the past several years
he has worked in the wine industry throughout the Bay Area. He is also the former General
Manager of Bella Viva Wine Bar, in downtown Gilroy. Kyle now lives and works in San
Francisco but frequently visits Santa Clara Valley to see family and wine taste.
C
alifornia winemaking owes much
of its history to people right here
in Santa Clara Valley (SCV). Our
valley’s winemaking tradition started as far
back as the 1850s, before Napa, Sonoma,
and Paso Robles established names for
themselves.
By 1883 the SCV region was the most
prolific concentration of vineyards in all of
California, possessing nearly 15,000 acres.
The region encountered a major setback
when the spread of phylloxera, an aphid-
like pest, devastated much of California’s
vineyards as well as those across Europe in
the early twentieth century. From 1920 to
1933 the twenty-first amendment would
also hamper winemaking by outlawing most
vinification and forcing many vineyards to
uproot thousands of acres. Many of these
vineyards were replaced with fruit orchards
which became the valley’s better known
regional production. This went on until the
eventual repeal of prohibition. Winemaking
in SCV gradually resurged through the 50s
until another burgeoning industry grew out
of the region. The rise of Silicon Valley with
its massive urban development and bus-
tling industrial parks in the 60s, 70s, and
80s would uproot countless vineyards and
orchards alike. Santa Clara Valley rapidly
lost much of its agricultural roots. Finally,
in 1976 when Napa’s robust wines emerged
on the international scene, upstaging those
of France at the, now famous, Judgement
of Paris, many winemakers left SCV to seek
their fortunes there.
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Fortunately, the persistent efforts of
local vineyards, entrepreneurial enthusiasts,
and wine drinkers alike kept Santa Clara
Valley wine culture alive. Even so it’s only as
recently as 1989 SCV was awarded official
American Viticultural Area (AVA) status
by the Wine Institute. Gilroy and Morgan
Hill, known more for their Garlic Festival
and Mushroom Mardi Gras, respectively,
have thrust themselves into the center
of this rebounding tradition. These cit-
ies possess most of the active vineyards in
the county, including recognizable names
such as Martin Ranch, Jason-Stephens, and
Guglielmo in addition to many others. Clos
LaCh