Finding aid to the California Wine Association records, 1894-1936, MS 300
Finding aid prepared by California Historical Society staff.
California Historical Society
© 2012
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
Title: California Wine Association records
Date: 1894-1936
Collection Identifier: MS
300
Creator:
California Wine Association.
Repository:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org
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.
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[Identification of item], California Wine Association Records, MS 300, California
Historical Society.
The collection was reprocessed by Megan Hickey Nespeco in 2012.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Series 1: Board of Directors minutes and other materials 1894 August 10-1936 December 8
Bound volumes document administrative matters, including appointments and
organizational bylaws. Additionally, volumes 2-5 contain transcriptions and
copies of annual reports to stockholders. A separate folder, "Annual reports
and statements," contains printed versions of these reports.
Box 1
Volume 1 1894 August 10-1895 August 8
The first part of this handwritten volume documents the development of
organizational bylaws, committee member lists, and member
responsibilities. The volume also contains transcribed correspondence
from California grape growers and winemakers detailing purchasing
contracts. Discussions include pricing; wine appraisal; and grape
classification, such as the use of the terms "hill grapes" and "valley
grapes." The volume also contains minutes of meetings the association
held with the winemakers and grape growers, including the Beringer
family.
Box 2
Volume 2 1895 August 8-1905 February 23
Topics in this typed volume include appointment nominations; revenue; and
discussions on the general state of the California wine market, as well
as specific vintages. Additionally, amendments to the original articles
of incorporations and contract negotiations between the committee and
California winemakers are discussed. The volume also contains
transcriptions and clippings of notices about the association published
by the
San Francisco Chronicle and
San Francisco Examiner. An illustrated stock
certificate (1894) is interleaved between pages 120 and 121.
Some of this volume is illegible due to water damage.
Box 3
Volume 3 1905 June 10-1912 February 29
Minutes address financial matters and include business statements, bonds
issued by the association, and insurance policies held by the
association. Significantly, the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and
fire is discussed as it relates to stock and property damage.
Additionally, the volume contains transcriptions of reports sent to
stockholders.
Box 4
Volume 4 1912 February 29-1921 July 28
Typed volume contains descriptions of elected positions; changes to the
articles of incorporation; contracts with grape growers and winemakers;
and the issue of Prohibition. Volume also contains stockholders meeting
meetings and copies of reports sent to stockholders. A bond pamphlet is
interleaved between pages 65-85.
Box 5
Volume 5 1921 August 25-1936 December 8
Topics in this typed volume include the Volstead Act (Prohibition); the
association's diminishing stock value; foreign wine imports and market
impact; and the quality and quantity of the association's wine
inventory. The issue of dissolving the corporation was raised in 1923
(page 77). The second half of the volume describes this process,
including member resignations, property liquidation, and the efforts to
distribute remaining wine stock. The last year of the corporation was
spent in litigation. Additionally, the volume contains stockholders
meeting meetings and copies of reports sent to stockholders.
Box 5, Folder 1
Annual reports and statements 1886, 1898-1917, 1919-1922, 1936
Typed and printed annual reports and business statements sent to
stockholders (1886, 1898-1917, 1919-1922, and 1936) highlighting major
events impacting fiscal decisions, such as grape production and
Prohibition. Reports are also found transcribed in the minutes of the
Board of Directors meetings (Volumes 2-5).
Box 6
Volume 6 1903 March 23-1910 May 20
Financial arrangements between the association and various banks,
merchants, and wineries are discussed. The volume also contains
information on contract terms with growers; the purchase of various
vintages; and property acquisitions. Additionally, the aftermath of the
1906 earthquake and fire is described (pages 137-141).
Box 7
Box 8
Volume 8 1913 May 1-1917 July 2
Topics include contract negotiations with winemakers and growers; profits
and loss; response to proposed Prohibition laws, including alignment
with various anti-Prohibition associations; and the brandy tax and
subsequent cancellation of grape contracts. Additionally, internal
conflicts are discussed, including member resignations. New business
ventures are also raised and include raisin making, grape juice
production, and sugar extraction from grapes.
Box 9