Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
Administrative History
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Sources Consulted
Title: California Wine Association records
Date: 1894-1936
Collection Identifier: MS
300
Creator:
California Wine Association.
Extent: 10 flat boxes (3 linear
feet)
Repository:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
Abstract: Consists of bound records of the California Wine
Association (1894-1936), a group of San Francisco Bay Area winemakers and dealers
who combined interests to gain favorable financial control over the market. Volumes
contain minutes of Executive Committee and Board of Directors meetings; membership
lists; and contract terms with grape growers and other winemakers, including Napa
winemakers Frederick and Jacob Beringer. The records also shed light on the
association's formation; the general state of the California wine market;
competition with national and international markets; Prohibition; and the
dissolution of the C.W.A., including lawsuits and member resignations. Significant
association members represented in the collection include founders Charles Carpy of
C. Carpy & Company; Charles Kohler and Henry Kohler of Napa Valley Wine Company,
Kohler and Frohling, C. Carpy & Company, B. Dreyfus & Company, and Kohler
and Van Bergen; Arpad Haraszthy of Arpad Haraszthy & Company; Albert Lachman,
Henry Lachman, and Samuel Lachman of S. Lachman & Company and Lachman &
Jacobi; winemaker John Frohling; Benjamin Dreyfus of B. Dreyfus & Company; and
Nicholas Van Bergen of Kohler and Van Bergen. The firms Aguillon & Busatelli and
C. Schilling & Company, both part of the association's combined holdings, are
also represented.
Access
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives, North Baker
Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco,
CA 94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the
owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from
the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], California Wine Association Records, MS 300, California
Historical Society.
Processing Information
The collection was reprocessed by Megan Hickey Nespeco in 2012.
Administrative History
The California Wine Association was formed during the depression of 1894 from seven
leading California wine firms in an effort to secure favorable options from grape
growers and winemakers, and to raise prices and stimulate trade. In 1894 the wine
industry was in a perilous state. California's 200,000 acres of vineyard were
overproductive, and California wines were being sold for as little as ten cents a
gallon. The country's financial depression also lingered, and both California
winemakers and the dealers were in dire financial straits. On August 10, 1894, the
California Wine Association was incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000, and
with the intent to control eighty percent of the wine produced in the state. For the
next two decades the uniform syndicate held substantial bargaining power over
winegrowers. The combined firms would also set prices based on vintages and regional
characteristics of the grapes they contracted to grow.
From C.W.A.’s incorporation until Prohibition, the history of winemaking in
California is largely connected to the history of the California Wine Association.
The C.W.A. became a syndicate or cartel, the single buyer for ripe grapes from
winegrowers. In response, winegrowers formed their own interest groups, which led to
the wine wars of the 1890s. In order to successfully negotiate grape prices, the two
factions came to agree upon standards for terms such as “hill grapes” and “valley
grapes”, and stabilized the quality of California wine in the process.
By the early twentieth century the quality and production of California wine had
vastly improved, which led Isaias W. Hellman, bank president and owner of a vast
southern California vineyard, to invest in a substantial amount of C.W.A. stock.
Hellman’s influence expanded the Association's hold across the state, and made them
the largest wine distributor in the country. By 1907 C.W.A. had a storage capacity
of nearly thirty million gallons, effectively controlling the forty-three million
gallons produced annually in California.
The enactment of the 18th Amendment in 1920 would ultimately lead to C.W.A.’s demise.
However, the new century began with an auspicious start. By 1914 the Association had
reached their intended goal, having established control over eighty percent of wine
manufactured in the State. Two years later, however, Prohibition laws passed in
California and the subsequent depression in the wine industry left the outlook bleak
for its largest manufacturer. During the first several years of Prohibition, C.W.A.
pursued other business ventures, such as manufacturing grape juice along with other
non-alcoholic beverages. The Association even began a short-lived experiment with
ways to extract sugar from dried fruit. Ultimately though, it was found that
alternative forms of revenue failed to deliver a substantial profit. Moreover, the
crisis caused by Prohibition was compounded by ensuing disorganization within
C.W.A.
Prohibition led the Association to divest of their wine stock. However, many of these
liquidation deals failed, which caused member firms to pursue sanctions against
other member firms. The Association's last decade was spent in litigation, though
they found some success in the foreign market. By 1935, after selling all remaining
wine stock to a San Francisco Cooperative, Grape Fruit Industries, Ltd., C.W.A. was
officially dissolved.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of bound records of the California Wine Association (1894-1936),
a group of San Francisco Bay Area winemakers and dealers who combined interests to
gain favorable financial control over the market. Volumes contain minutes of
Executive Committee and Board of Directors meetings; membership lists; and contract
terms with grape growers and other winemakers, including Napa winemakers Frederick
and Jacob Beringer. The records also shed light on the association's formation; the
general state of the California wine market; competition with national and
international markets; Prohibition; and the dissolution of the C.W.A., including
lawsuits and member resignations. Significant association members represented in the
collection include founders Charles Carpy of C. Carpy & Company; Charles Kohler
and Henry Kohler of Napa Valley Wine Company, Kohler and Frohling, C. Carpy &
Company, B. Dreyfus & Company, and Kohler and Van Bergen; Arpad Haraszthy of
Arpad Haraszthy & Company; Albert Lachman, Henry Lachman, and Samuel Lachman of
S. Lachman & Company and Lachman & Jacobi; winemaker John Frohling; Benjamin
Dreyfus of B. Dreyfus & Company; and Nicholas Van Bergen of Kohler and Van
Bergen. The firms Aguillon & Busatelli and C. Schilling & Company, both part
of the association's combined holdings, are also represented.
The Board of Directors minutes (Series 1, 1894 August 10-1936 December 8) document
administrative matters, including appointments, organizational bylaws, and contract
negotiations between the committee and California winemakers. Additionally, this
series contains committee member lists, including information on member
responsibilities, and transcriptions of business reports sent to stockholders. A
separate folder (1886, 1898-1917, 1919-1922, 1936), contains printed and typed
copies of annual reports and statements.
Minutes of the Executive Committee (Series 2, 1903 March 23-1923 October 17), the
fiscal decision-making body of California Wine Association, contain additional
information on contract terms with grape growers; purchase terms of various
vintages; and property acquisitions. Also included is documentation of the C.W.A.'s
response to Prohibition, including its alignment with various anti-Prohibition
associations; member resignations; and the dissolution of the association
itself.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog:
Aguillon & Busatelli (Wine
firm, Alameda County, Calif.).
Arpad Haraszthy & Company (Wine
firm).
B. Dreyfus & Company (Wine
firm).
Beringer, Frederick.
Beringer, Jacob.
C. Carpy & Company (Wine
firm).
C. Schilling & Company (Wine
firm).
California Wine
Association.
Carpy, Charles.
Dreyfus, Benjamin.
Frohling, John.
Haraszthy, Arpad,
1840-1900.
Italian-Swiss Colony (Wine
firm).
Kohler and Frohling (Wine
firm).
Kohler and Van Bergen (Wine
firm).
Kohler, Charles,
1854-1917.
Kohler, Henry.
Lachman & Jacobi (Wine
firm).
Lachman, Albert.
Lachman, Henry.
Lachman, Samuel.
Napa Valley Wine
Company.
S. Lachman & Company (Wine
firm).
Van Bergen, Nicholas.
Prohibition--California.
Vinters--California.
Viticulture--California.
Wine and wine making--California.
Wine industry--California.
Sources Consulted
Carosso, Vincent P.
The California wine industry,
1830-1895: a study of the formative years
. Berkeley; Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1951.
Peninou, Ernest P. and Unzelman, Gail G.,
The California
Wine Association and its member wineries
. Santa Rosa: Nomis Press,
2000.
Peninou, Ernest P. and Greenleaf, Sidney S.
A Directory
of California wine growers and wine makers in 1860: with biographical and
historical notes and index
. Berkeley: Tamalpais Press, 1967.