Placer County's wine history is among the most interesting and significant in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and arguably the rest of California as well. The story of winemaking and grape growing in Placer County has ties to some of the most historic events in California. Winemaking began early in California at the Spanish Missions, but only became a large commercial enterprise after James Marshall's discovery of gold in 1848. It was the dramatic increase in the population of California during the Gold Rush that ignited the state's fledgling wine industry. The very year gold was discovered in California, the first grape vines were planted in what was soon to become Placer County.
It seems only fitting that the father of Placer County viticulture should be none other than Claude Chana, the Frenchman who discovered gold in Auburn Ravine in 1848. Earlier that same year Chana traveled down to Mission San Jose where he obtained 200 cuttings of the Mission grape, the only variety available in California at that time. The Mission vines were established at the ranch of fellow Frenchman, Theodore Sicard, who had settled along the south bank of the Bear River near Johnson's Rancho. Chana later purchased Sicard's Ranch and by 1860 had planted some 80 acres of vines. Previously Chana had manufactured only small quantities of wine, but he eventually went into the wine business on a grand scale. By 1870 he was producing 12,000 gallons of wine annually.Although Chana was the first to cultivate the grape vine, he was not the first one to make wine, that honor belongs to Stephen Burdge, an Italian-trained winemaker who originally obtained cuttings from Sutter's Hock Farm, near Marysville. By 1854, Burge, who had settled 4 miles northeast of Lincoln had produced a small vintage, the first in Placer County, and perhaps the first in the Sierra Foothills.
In 1860, the first year for which any figures are available, Placer County produced 722 gallons of wine. At the time, wine was being produced in extremely limited quantities and was intended for home use, with very little being sold on a commercial basis. Within a very short time, however, as the easily worked gold deposits were depleted, many men who had been miners began seeking new ways of making a living. One of the most popular occupations was the planting of vineyard and orchards. By 1867 winemaking in Placer County had reached commercial levels, that year some 22,550 gallons of wine were produced. Some of the most important early wine districts were located in Applegate, Auburn, Doty's Flat, Lincoln, Rattlesnake Bar, Stewart Flat and Virginia Town.
Placer County also played an important part in the early distribution and cultivation of the Zinfandel grape in California. As early as 1855 two of the county's residents were growing Zinfandel. James Nickerson of Lincoln and George W. Applegate of Applegate had both obtained cuttings from New Englander Wilson Flint who was selling nursery stock in Sacramento. James Nickerson was, for many years, Placer County's leading vintner and grape grower. Beginning in 1859 his exhibit at the state fair in Sacramento contained one of the most extensive collections of grape varieties in California. By 1871 Nickerson was operating one of the largest wineries in the Placer County and his wines were receiving top awards at several agricultural fairs.
Another important wine pioneer was Louis Miller of Rattlesnake Bar, who was the first to plant true European wine grape varieties in the Sierra foothills. Miller turned his attention from mining to agriculture around 1856, and within two years he was importing the finest grape varieties from France, Italy and Germany. By 1861 his wines were already recognized as some of best produced in the mountains of California. Between 1870 and 1880, a good many of the grape growers in Placer County began to switch from wine varieties to those suited for the table or raisin production. With the availability of a local railroad the farmers became diversified often growing a wide variety of fruit for shipping to distant markets. It was during this period, however, that one of the county's largest and most successful wineries was in operation. Between 1872 and 1874 Benjamin Bernhard constructed the winery that stands to this day near the fairgrounds in Auburn. Also successful during the 1870s were John Kaiser who made wine in Clover Valley near Penryn, and the Chamberlain Brothers with their extensive vineyard on Coon Creek. In 1880 Placer County contained around 900 acres of wine grapes, with most of the planting activity centered in the rapidly developing vineyard district near Colfax. Most notable at Colfax was the vineyard of J.B. Whitcomb who won awards at the state fair for his display of wine and table grapes. It was also considered important that Whitcomb was able to farm his vineyard without irrigation, relying only on rainfall to provide moisture to his vines. In 1886, perhaps as a result of phylloxera, which had first been reported in 1880, Placer County contained only 700 acres of vines. At this late date it is difficult to determine how much impact phylloxera had on the local vineyards. What can be said is that in 1890 the county contained a total of 2,285 acres of grapes, 1,431 acres devoted to table varieties, 500 acres to raisin varieties and 354 acres of wine grapes. During this period much of Placer County's grape crop was sent to large wineries in Roseville or adjacent Sacramento County, where it ended up in bulk wines or was blended with wines from other areas. In 1906 the Department of Agriculture established an experimental vineyard in Colfax on the ranch of a local vineyardist. From a winemaking point of view the county was pretty quiet during the early years of the twentieth century. With the threat of a national prohibition looming on the horizon few new vineyards or wineries were established. By 1930, however, the county could still muster some 2,400 acres of vines. Admittedly a vast majority of the county's grapes were table varieties, but with the onset of Prohibition came a demand for grapes from home winemakers, who could legally produce some wine for their own use. For a few years, thick skinned and darkly colored varieties like Alicante Bouschet, Carignane, Mataro, and Zinfandel were shipped east in considerable quantities.
The next major spike in viticultural activity took place at the repeal of Prohibition, when between 1934 and 1937, fourteen small wineries opened their doors in Placer County, many of which were operated by Italian families. Several of these new wineries were clustered near Colfax with others located in Auburn, Lincoln, Loomis, and Roseville. Most of these wineries were in existence for only a very short period of time, but one, operated by the Cortopassi family of Colfax, remained in operation until 1951. The planting of wine grapes was also resumed to some extent. In 1938 it was reported that a total of 391 acres of Zinfandel were established in the county, 31 acres of which were recently planted and non-bearing. The last winery known to have operated in Placer County was established by Joseph Demutis in Loomis and remained in operation until the late 1960s. Most recently, especially since the late 1990s there has been a re-birth in both grape growing and winemaking in Placer County. As of 1998 there was some 91 acres of wine grapes in the county many of which had been planted in the last few years. Currently several new vineyards are being established, and wineries are soon to follow. In addition there has been the formation of the Placer Wine and Grape Association, a group whose purpose it is to pioneer a new wine industry in Placer County. The outlook for the future of wine and grapes in Placer County seems brighter than it has any time since the 19th century. Placer County will finally assume its rightful place alongside the other noted wine regions of California.