Posted by Michael Haran on Sep 15, 2009
HEALDSBURG’S FIRST WINERIES
Published in the Healdsburg Museum’s Russian River Recorder
Autumn 2009
by Michael Haran
Montepulciano Winery
It seems fitting that during our annual grape harvest, we take a look at the early history of the industry that wines, dines and supports our town. Not only does Sonoma’s wine industry account for about 40% ($20 billion) of our county’s annual gross income but it has also fostered other businesses such as the one billion dollar per year tourism industry. All of this has transformed Healdsburg (like it or not) into an up scale market including designer shops, restaurants and hotels with full service spas. One wonders what George Miller would think of all this.
Prior to George Miller Sr. establishing Healdsburg’s first commercial winery, wine was made by many small home producers for their personal use and as part of the barter system which was prevalent in NorthernSonomaCounty before the establishment of banks and the beginning of our modern economy. In a letter from Lindsay Carson (brother of famed explorer Kit Carson) to his great-grandfather in 1857, he wrote “money is scarcer than I have ever known.”
It seems that one of the first things any European settler did here was to plant grapes. The Russian’s at FortRoss are credited with the establishment of the first vineyards. The Franciscans at the Sonoma Mission first planted grape vine in 1823 about five years after the Russians planted their first vineyard. Most of the early vineyards featured Mission grapes. In 1860, Davenport Cousins was listed as the first wine producer in the DryCreekValley. His ranch, which is now the site of the Ferrari-Carano Winery (8761 Dry Creek Road) featured a post office, saloon and grocery store. The site was known as Cozzens Corner and was operated by Cozzens and his son for some thirty years.
In 1864, A.J. Galloway was credited with establishing DryCreekValley’s first vineyard. Gene Cuneo, felt that Galloway’s vineyard, which is now the Cuneo Ranch (2470 Dry Creek Road, was primarily planted in Zinfandel. To give some idea of the grape varietals being grown in the area in 1883: 395 acres were planted to Zinfandel; 240 acres to Mission; 64 acres to Malvoise; 50 acres to Golden Chasselas; 18 acres to White Reisling; and 40 acres to other varietals.
As an aside, it is interesting to note how land values, today by far the most costly element of any vineyard, of the period were little more than an incidental. The following is an actual cost accounting reported by Agoston Haraszthy (founder of Buena Vista Winery) when he planted 100 acres in January 1858:
Six men with nine horses for deep tillage
and six horses for shovel plow $231.60
Horse hire and feed 255.00
Blacksmith 30.00
18 men to layout, stake,
Dig holes and plant vines 892.68
Cost of land 170.00
Miscellaneous 55.36
Total $1,634.64
It is believed that Healdsburg’s first commercial winery was established in 1862, during the Civil War, by George Miller Sr. A native Swiss, Miller came to SonomaCounty in 1853. He was first a partner in his uncle Felta Miller’s (along with Samuel and Thomas Heald) saw and grist mill located on Mill Creek off of Westside Road.
Of interest, it was local lore that Catherine “Katie” Miller, Felta’s wife, was a problem. This story is one of Sonoma Counties most told legends and tales. It seems Katie liked her hooch. Felta would often hide the “jug” from Katie who was known to appear at the back door of some of Healdsburg’s early saloons. Felta and some friends were leaving for a Fourth of July celebration in 1854, and he was concerned as to how to conceal a keg of whiskey that was in the house. Felta got an idea. He had one of his friends climb a tree and, unseen by Katie, tied it securely out of reach. After a diligent search she spotted the “treasure” high in the tree. After diligent thought she came up with a brilliant solution. She carried out a large washtub and placed it directly beneath the keg. Procuring her husband’s rifle she peppered the keg with several bullet holes. Katie was found by the returning party in close proximity to her favorite tipple, having had as much “independence” as was good for her.
George Miller
When Miller sold his interest back to his uncle, he and his wife Ursula bought about 12 acres that is bordered today by College, University, Grant and Powell Streets from the estate of Colonel Rod Matheson who was killed in an 1862 Civil War battle. After clearing, he planted eight acres in Mission and Hamburg grapes (6.5 to Mission and 1.5 to Hamburg) with the remaining four acres (the southeast corner of the property) reserved for the construction of the distillery and family home. The name of the winery was the Healdsburg Fruit Distillery, which produced “Quality wines and brandies distilled from grapes, apples and peaches.” Both Ursula and his daughter Celia (who was Healdsburg’s May Queen in 1869) worked the winery with Miller.
Some time before 1867 Miller moved the winery to the southeast corner of West (now Healdsburg Ave.) and Grant Street. He may have also taken in a partner during this time. A man named Mr. Fried was said to have worked with Miller at the winery, but no further record of him can be found.
The coming of the railroad in 1871 brought Healdsburg a boom in prosperity. With the trip from San Francisco now taking only four hours, the tourist trade took a sharp up turn, as did the sale of agricultural products to the now easily accessible Bay Area markets. In 1872 George Bosch and Alex Colson opened the first Dry Creek winery and produced quality wines from their 14 acres (around 1500 Dry Creek Road) of Mission and Zinfandel grapes. The Zinfandel grape had arrived from the East Coast during the Gold Rush and was first used as a table grape in San Francisco.
In 1873, a Frenchman named John Chambaud built a stone winery along the north side of Hudson Street, a little west of Front Street (one wall of the original building is still standing as part of the office building that currently occupies the site). It can be argued that Chambaud’s winery was the first in Healdsburg since this winery was actually within the city limits, whereas Miller’s first location was not. Chambaud grew none of his own grapes. His winery’s 20,000 gallon capacity was welcomed by the local grape growers. Vineyards were growing rapidly in the area and not all the grapes could be sold in the San Francisco market. Chambaud bought and crushed (using mostly Chinese labor) 200 tons of grapes for his first vintage.
Chambaud Winery circa 1909
In the first half of the 1870’s several factors led to the first boom in Sonoma County’s wine industry (a cycle that’s been repeated ever since). First, the coming of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 opened up the Eastern U.S. markets; second, the French Phylloxera epidemic opened the European market to California wines for the first time. This caused a boom in both grape growing and wine making. In 1873 California wine production jumped 40% to 2,636,000 gallons. In the same year, Healdsburg’s wine was selling for 30 cents per gallon and brandy was selling for $1.50 per gallon. By 1876 the price of wine dropped to 10 cents per gallon.
In 1877, Miller sold his winery to Mr. A.E.S. DeWiederhold (a winemaker from British Columbia), but kept his home and the 12 acres of grapes. Miller then opened a butcher shop in downtown Healdsburg. He gradually transplanted his old Mission vines and had a vineyard of desirable dry red varieties by the early 1890s. DeWiederhold changed the name to the Fairview Winery.
The depression of 1876 forced John Chambaud to sell his winery to a cooperative group of vineyards organized as “The United Vineyard Proprietors Company” for $4,000. Chambaud stayed on as foreman until he moved to Cloverdale in 1880. The cooperative changed the name of the winery from Chambaud Winery to the Healdsburg Winery.
The depression of the mid 1870s set the stage for a dramatic rebound in the early 1880s. In 1877, Chambaud produced about 20,000 gallons of wine; Miller produced about 5,000 gallons; and Bloch & Colson produced about 5,000 gallons. In 1882, the Healdsburg region wine produced was 382,000 gallons. The Simi and the Gobbi brothers timing was perfect.
Pietro and Giuseppe Simi bought the Healdsburg (Chambaud) Winery in 1881 just in time for the next boom in the SonomaCounty wine industry. Giuseppe Simi arrived in California from his native Tuscany in 1859 and work for a time as a miner and later a produce farmer renting 2,800 acres of land in SacramentoCounty, 1,840 acres in KernCounty and 1,600 near Pescadero. Pietro sold the produce and made wine in their building at 429 Green Street in San Francisco.
Pietro and Giuseppe Simi
In 1868, Giuseppe moved to Healdsburg to buy grapes for the brother’s San Francisco winery. After they bought the Healdsburg Winery and, catching the wine boom, soon out grew the Hudson Street location. In 1883, Giuseppe bought 126 acres just north of Healdsburg. They cleared the land and planted 116 acres of mostly Zinfandel. They built a stone winery on the site and named it Montepulciano in honor of the Tuscan winegrowing town where they were born. The annual out put was 70,000 gallons of wine through the 1890s. Giuseppe was always in charge of the winery, while Pietro ran the business in San Francisco. The Simi Winery is the longest continuing running winery in the Healdsburg area.
Meanwhile, DeWiederhold sold the Fairview Winery to Peter and B. Gobbi in 1882. Gobbi renamed it the Sotoyome Winery and moved it to the 300 block of West Street (Healdsburg Ave.). In 1884, a cousin, Julius Gobbi bought out B. Gobbi. They made about 60,000 gallons of wine annually and their wines had a “fine reputation, which commands ready sale in San Francisco as soon as prepared for the market. They also manufacture grape brandies, and the product of their distillery never has to wait for a market.”
Both cousins were from an Italian town named Dongo which is near the northern end of LakeComo. Both men’s fathers were vineyardists and wine producers. In 1869, Julius’ family moved to Ukiah where his father planted a vineyard. This is where Julius learned the business of vine growing and the rudiments of wine-making. Peter came to California in 1873 and worked in the dairy business in Petaluma and Bloomfield until he moved to Healdsburg and bought the Fairview Winery.
In the 1880’s Peter and Julius built a commercial building at 312 Center Street which still bears their name. Peter retired in 1895, but Julius ran the operation for some years to come. Both men had a fine reputation and were active in the Healdsburg community.
DeWiederhold kept his vineyard and built a small private winery that was maintained by his widow, Alice, until 1892, when it burned down. This was one of the numerous temperance movement winery fires around this date and was presumed the work of the fanatic “Drys.”
Today there are over 350 bonded wineries in SonomaCounty with eleven distinct and two shared American Viticulture Areas including the RussianRiverValley, AlexanderValley, and DryCreekValley, the last of which is known for the production of high-quality Zinfandels.
In 2007 the SonomaCounty grape harvest amounted to over 198,000 tons, exceeding NapaCounty’s harvest by just under 30 percent. About 80% of non-pasture agricultural land in the county is for growing wine grapes—63,825 acres of vineyards with over 1800 growers. The most common varieties planted are Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Zinfandel. The overall 2007 average price per ton was $2,081 up 5% from 2006.
Photos courtesy of Healdsburg Museum
Read More
Posted by Michael Haran on Sep 15, 2008
Published in the Healdsburg Museum’s Russian River Recorder
Autumn 2008
By: Michael Haran
In 1942 the Rev. Mina Ross Brawner, M.D. of Melbourne, Australia jotted down notes of her early childhood in Healdsburg. “In 1896, I vividly remember the old but big Redwood tree on FitchMountain standing outside the fence surrounding my mother’s home. There was room for 20 picnickers in the hollow trunk. Its top was so high that it seemed, when viewed from our home-side, to pass the distant mountain and blend with the sky.”
One day I came home from school to find the big Redwood on fire. Its open throat was roaring like a furnace. Mother told us that the lighting had ripped down from the clouds and struck it. The roar was terrible. We could stand on the hillside and watch the fire relentlessly burn the heart of our old landmark.
Villa Chanticleer
But another rainstorm came down extinguishing the fire and the old tree was saved. Then suddenly a fearful crash and roar, the tree came down. We rushed to the spot – mother and the three children who were home. Was the tree gone? The nook seemed filled with the fallen trunk and branches. Quickly I returned to our cottage and secured a tape-measure. Together we measured the top of the huge tree lying like a giant submarine on the ground. It was 90 feet long. Looking up to my surprise the tree seemed to be as tall as before.
In 1943 Rev. Brawner returned to Healdsburg to see if the old Redwood still stands. It was and she wrote “Old Stovepipe they call you now, and wonder how it happened. But you and I remember. You have kept your secret all these years, but tonight I am telling the world you battled against all obstacles – and won out. Oh, joy! The old Redwood still stands.” Old Stovepipe was renamed the General Eisenhower in 1972.
Some fourteen years later, in 1910, a San Francisco Frenchman by the name of Auguste Pradel and his wife Victorine bought 130 acres, from E. Dufore and his wife Hortense on the north side of Fitch Mountain in which the old tree still stands. They established a French resort to cater to San Francisco’s French community. In its day the Villa was the leading French Resort north of San Francisco with accommodations for as many as 200 persons.Pradel built a road, which is today’s Powell Avenue, from Healdsburg to the Villa, and a “wagon” road down to the river below Eagle Rock to what was known as “Frenchman’s Orchard” and later part of the Del Rio Woods subdivision A horse and buggy was sent to the depot on the arrival of each train to take people up the hill. Later a small bus replaced the horse and buggy.
In 1912, August Laurens (Pradel’s son-in-law) took over the facility and made many improvements in the bungalows. He raised money from local businessmen to “put the road leading from the city limits to the Resort in splendid condition.” One wonders just how “splendid” the road was as Felix Lafon remembered that his father’s model T Ford would have to back up on the steepest part of the road to get to the Chantecler. In 1921 this road and the CampRose road on the south side of FitchMountain were made public roads, rebuilt and connected making a six mile loop from Healdsburg’s city limit to city limit.
In 1916 Victor Cadoul and his wife Seraphie purchased the Chantecler Resort (renaming it the Villa Chantecler) for ten dollars in gold coin from the Pradels and expanded the facilities. An article in the June 18th edition of HEALDSBURG TRIBUNE headlined: “THE VILLA ENJOYS BIG RUN” told that there were “nearly 100 guest enjoying the pleasant surrounding and merchants report business in every line with the guest of Chantecler.” (sounded like the merchants got their road investment back). The building had a kitchen and a bar. The dining area was a large screened-in porch on the north side. Cabins were on the east side of the grounds (eventually rooms were built in one of the buildings to accommodate the large number of “single” guests). Overflow guest were put up in tents. It was about this time that the custom of taking guests on a weekly trip to the Italian-Swiss Colony at Asti began.
Ownership changed several times over the years. According to Madeline Delagnes, Cadoul ran the Villa until 1924 when he leased it to her parents Adrian and Marie Cayre. The Cayres kept the Villa until 1926 at which time Codoul once again took over the Villa. Madeline, in an August 29, 1980 HEALDSBURG TRIBUNE article, stated that Pierre Rouquier “built a beautiful home on what is now Borel Road at Samantha Court off upper Powell Avenue. According to Georgette Cadoul Etchell, Victor and Serephie’s daughter who still lives on Scenic Lane, her father built a small home on Borel Road because her mother didn’t want to live at the Chantecler any longer. Victor later sold the home on Borel Road to Pierre Rouquier and built another small home on Scenic Lane off N. Fitch Mountain Road.
Road to Villa Chanticleer
When Rouquier took title to the property he expanded the home adding a big room to the home and started the Bellevue Villa which eventually included a full service restaurant, 50 cabins and a bowling alley. Knowing that he now had competition, Cadoul made substantial improvements to the Villa Chanticleer including the famed dining room which was reputed to be the largest room between San Francisco and Eureka. Four years later, due to the lack of water available at the Villa, coupled with the depression that made him land pour, Codoul wanted out and he approached Madeline and her husband Lucien Delagnes who owned the Hotel Gotham in San Francisco.
According to Yvette Delagnes Conz, Madeline and Lucien’s daughter who still lives off Borel Road, in 1934 Cadoul leased the Villa to her parents (they bought the property a year later). The lease covered the 40 acres of buildings and the business, with Cadoul keeping control over the remainder of the 90 acres. Delagnes installed an outdoor “duck pin” bowling alley. On Sunday afternoons $25 in cash prizes were award to the best bowlers and also held the Healdsburg championship. New improvements also included new lighting fixtures. The resort boasted of two milk cows and a “help yourself” cherry orchard. A children’s playground and a playing card grotto under “Old Stovepipe” were also installed. As a predecessor of today, weddings were also held under the big tree.
Three meals per day, a room and wine cost $18 per week. When the Villa was overbooked Madeline would even set up cots inside the old tree. She liked to serve fresh vegetables and guests enjoyed gathering around to help string beans and snap peas. Seven course meals were served with a bottle of wine. During prohibition the wine was served in a cup. Lucien bought 50 gallon barrels of wine from Mel Pedroni for $35 per barrel.
Gil Delagnes, Lucien and Madeline Delagnes’ son who now lives in Windsor, said that when he was a child he would help Frank Vatalli count the money from the 10, penny, nickel and quarter slot machines that were set in and around the Villa. Gil’s pay allowed him to buy the model planes and cars that he loved to make as a child. His parent’s share of the slot machine revenue helped pay for the family’s annual vacations. Partaking in the slots were many local and state politicians who would visit the Villa during the summer months.During the 1940’s the Delagnes’ subdivided the 16.7 acres that currently comprise the Villa and the residential lots that now surround the property. Also in the 1940’s The Delagnes’ let the Pradel’s build a home on a northeast part of the property which they lived in until their death. In gratitude, upon his death Auguste left four thousand dollars for the care of the Villa.
The Villa Chanticleer circa 1912
In 1945, they sold the property to two San Francisco men Jack Kent and W. Johnson. This is where legend mixes with reality and fantasy with facts. Madeline claims that Kent mentioned to her that they planned to build a casino for “the Hollywood people.” “One fellow talked a lot of, you know, b.s. He was a liar – pouf! He was not bad looking, though.” She said that they wouldn’t sell until Kent dropped his plan to convert the property to a casino.
On the night of September 14, 1945, while 200 guests were dancing in the famed dining room a fire started in the kitchen. All the guests were safely evacuated but the dining room was burned to the ground. Kent and Johnson rebuilt the beautiful existing main building on a lavish scale and were nearing a reopening date.
Then, on May 11, 1947 a Santa Rosa man named Nick DeJohn (aka Nick Rossi), at one time allegedly involved with Al Capone’s Chicago mafia, was murdered in San Francisco. He had been strangled and was found in the trunk of his car. Soon after, an anonymous source informed authorities that Rossi was connected with a man who was planning a “night spot” at one of the resorts in Healdsburg. All fingers pointed to Jack Kent. Charges were never pressed and Kent vehemently stated, “I’ll give this whole place to anybody who can prove I ever met, saw, nodded, or even spoke to this gangster in my whole life.” But the idea of the Villa as an upscale gamblers’ joint was never fully erased. The six foot by six foot walk-in, impregnable safe that’s still in the Villa’s basement added to the speculation. Soon after DeJohn’s death, and with only the landscaping remaining to be finished, Kent and Johnson declared bankruptcy and all construction ceased. Coincidence?…
As for the Villa’s use as a brothel, The Villa was named Chanticler by Cadoul in the early 1920’s. He took the name from a French fable LeRonain de Renard which was/is a satire on human conventions and morals. Chanticler was a rooster in the fable. The name was derived from “chante claire” which means “clear singing” as in the rooster welcoming the dawn. A 1984 Press-Democrat newspaper article on the Villa claimed that the rooster is a French symbol for a bordello, a fact which is disputed by Yvette. As far as anyone knows this is as close to a brothel as the Villa has ever come.
When it was first built in 1910 by Pradel, the Villa was known as Frenchman’s Resort. In a May 1972 memo from City Administrator Edwin Langhart to the Petaluma sign maker included a sketch of what the Villa’s new sign (the one that now stands at the entrance to the Villa) was to look like. This sketch had only one e in the spelling; however, the new sign was delivered with the double e in the name. Whether the sign maker made an error or if he was instructed to make the change no one knows but the Villa Chantecleer now has the double ee and will so for ever more.
Villa Dining Room circa 1912
The Villa languished for eight years until SonomaCounty forced a sale for back taxes in 1955. With no bidders, two tradesmen who had filed liens for unpaid work for Kent and Johnson, reluctantly took title for the sum of the unpaid taxes. During this time the City of Healdsburg was in a quandary. They had been planning to use what is now the Longs shopping center on Center Street for a new city hall. After a report from a San Francisco consultant stated that the highest and best use was shopping, the City dropped its plans for a city hall at the site. The town had also outgrown the old American Legion Hall, which was also on the Long’s site, as a community center. When the Villa became available and the same consultant said that the resort would make a splendid community center, the City the 17.04 acre Villa for $45,000. The purchase price included the Villa, annex, 20 cabins (all but four were torn down) and all equipment. The City annexed the property and spent $150,000 finishing the landscaping and made upgrades.The 50 by 70 foot dining room has many large widows with views of Mt.St. Helena and CobbMountain. It is served by a kitchen with four big ranges, ovens and other appliances. On the other side of the lobby is the ballroom, with an oak floor and a large fireplace. Between these two is the Redwood Lounge, a horseshoe-shaped bar with 22 stools, and eight booths along the sides. The painting behind the bar was commissioned to Lloyd Wasmuth of Santa Rosa by Kent & Johnson. It is a technique called “juxtaposition,” in which every brush stroke is a small square. The painter took it home after the bankruptcy but the City bought it back for $250 and reinstalled it. The annex has one large meeting room and a small kitchen. There are picnic and barbeque areas for 200-300 persons, parking for about 200 cars, tot-lot, lots of trees – oak, redwoods, eucalyptus, acacia, madrone – and 10 acres of undeveloped land.
Since its purchase the City has invested, and is still investing, substantial amounts of money to keep the Villa up to date. In the mid 1980’s the Villa was losing about $10k per year as compared to about $50k per year today. Adjusted for inflation, this is relatively the same amount. The City is now working on new programs to generate revenue which will not only close this revenue gap but also generate an income surplus. As Healdsburg’s most treasured social venue and the keeper of Old Stovepipe, “You have battled against all odds and won out. Oh, Joy!” The Villa still stands!
Photos Courtesy of Healdsburg Museum
Read More
