History of California wine

California wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% (by some estimates) of American wine is produced in the state. California would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world if it were an independent nation.

The first recorded planting of a vineyard was by the Spanish Jesuit Missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino at Misión San Bruno in Baja California in 1683 implanting the first variety named "Misionero". In 1779, Franciscan missionaries under the direction of the Spanish Father Junípero Serra planted California's first sustained vineyard at Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Father Serra founded eight other California missions. Hence, he has been called the "Father of California Wine". The variety he planted, presumably descended from Spain, became known as the Mission grape and dominated California wine production until about 1880.

Starting in the early 1930s, commercial viticulture in California was mostly based in Southern California. California's first documented imported European wine vines were planted in Los Angeles in 1833 by Jean-Louis Vignes, the first commercial wine maker in the state. William Wolfskill, another major early wine maker in California, purchased his first vineyard in 1838 in the Los Angeles area. By 1858 he owned 55,000 vines across 145 acres. Vignes and Wolfskill were the two major figures in California wine making in the 1830s and 1840s. Their success attracted others and increased interest in wine cultivation in Southern California.

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) had a major effect on the geography, economy, and history of wine growing in California. The Gold Rush brought an influx of people to Northern California, many of whom arrived and settled in San Francisco (whose population grew from 1,000 to 25,000 between January 1848 and December 1849). This resulted in a significant increase in demand for wine and spurred wine production in the area within 100 miles of San Francisco. The 1850s saw planting and wine production expand in earnest in many parts of Northern California, including in Sutter County, Yuba County, Butte County, Trinity County, El Dorado County, Lake County, Napa County, Sonoma County, Merced, and . Many of these are still major centers of wine cultivation and production.

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