Almost all California historians will tell you the state’s wine industry was started by Spanish missionaries in the late 18th century because they needed wine for their religious services. Eventually, they would establish 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma. These Franciscan fathers were led by Father Junipero Serra, who would, amid controversy, be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2015.

“In 1777, Father Junipero Serra wrote to the viceroy of Mexico and asked that grapevines be sent to California,” said Frances Dinkelspiel, author of Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California. She quoted Father Serra as writing, “The lack of wine for mass is becoming unbearable.”

“Grapes were brought in May 1778 on board the supply ship San Antonio and were unloaded in what would one day be Orange County,” said Dinkelspiel. “They were planted at San Juan Capistrano. The first vintage from those grapes was probably 1782.”

The grapes were called mission grapes, and they flourished in the Orange County area. Even so, the Franciscans decided to concentrate their winemaking efforts at their missions across the state.

The area around the San Gabriel Mission soon produced the most wine in the state with about 170 acres planted and 35,000 gallons of wine a year produced. The next biggest wine producer was San Fernando, followed by Ventura and San Jose, according to Thomas Pinney, author of The City of Vines: A History of Wine in Los Angeles.

Working Conditions
“The Franciscan friars came to California with the intent of converting Native Americans to Christianity,” said Dinkelspiel, adding a lot of Native Americans agreed to be baptized not knowing what they were signing up for.

The Franciscans insulated the Native Americans and tightly controlled their daily lives. They separated the men and women and “made Natives work in the fields, regulated by a series of bells,” she said, explaining the church bells would signal when it was time to wake up, when it was time to start working in the fields, when it was time to eat and when it was time to sleep.

Many Native Americans became addicted to aguardiente, a type of brandy made from mission grapes that was 18% to 20% alcohol. They were not permitted to drink at the missions, so they would go to Calle de los Negros, a rough street in Los Angeles that was filled with brothels, saloons and gambling parlors, according to Dinkelspiel.

The Gold Rush caused a shortage of workers to plant and harvest grapes.

“When gold was discovered, most young men left for the gold fields, leaving very few people behind to grow food,” Dinkelspiel said. “So, vintners relied on the workforce that was available: Indians.”

The very first law passed by the new state of California in 1850 was intended to keep Native Americans in the vineyards.

“It was nicknamed the ‘Indian Indenture Act,’ and it was adopted to address the worker shortage caused by the Gold Rush,” said Dinkelspiel. “The law allowed any white man to identify a Native American as vagrant, lazy or drunk, which would permit a marshal or sheriff to arrest and fine him. Since most Native Americans could not pay the fines, a week’s worth of their labor would be auctioned off to the highest bidder, who would then pay the fines.”

Many of the businesses paid their workers in wine, she said. Since Native Americans had more difficulty processing alcohol, the sheriff would round them up. Most of them were put to work in the vineyards.

“They thought of them as savages,” she said about the mindset of those running the state. “They’re ‘inferior to us.’ It was indentured servitude.”

Early Native American Winemaking
While almost all wine historians will say California winemaking began with the missionaries’ need for wine, a recent discovery in Texas suggests the possibility Native Americans made wine before the European settlers arrived.

“I think it’s likely because wine is a highly soluble product,” said Crystal Dozier, Ph.D., assistant professor and archaeologist at Wichita State University.

The archaeological digs she conducted at three sites near Austin, Texas found ceramic remnants dating from 1300 to 1650 with the residue of two compounds, tartaric and succinic acids, which are both found in high concentrations in wine.

The area, which was inhabited by those believed to be ancestors of tribes such as the Lipan Apache, is known to have had grapes for many centuries.

“Texas is a great place to grow wild grapes,” said Dozier. “The early colonists were taken aback by how abundant the plants were.”

Historically, tribes in North America are known to have produced a variety of fermented drinks. Balché is a Mayan drink made from the bark of the balché tree and a small amount of honey. Pulque is a light agave wine produced by the Aztecs. Tribes in Southern Arizona and across the border in Northern Sonora produced saguaro cactus wine from the red fruit of the saguaro cactus. In Southern Mexico and Central America, Native Americans made coyol wine, an alcoholic beverage from the sap of coyol palms.

Virtually all tribes in North America had some fermented beverage that was reserved for special occasions when groups of people gathered, such as meetings of tribes for trade or other negotiations. Based on “the large ovens and big crockpot” and the amount of trash discovered during her dig, Dozier estimates “hundreds if not a thousand people” would often be at these events.

After Dozier published her findings, a similar study found what scientists believe is evidence of the earliest known wine drinking in the Americas on ceramic artifacts found on Isla de Mona, a small Caribbean island between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The findings were published in Archaeological and Anthropological Science: Reports.

“It’s not the only study that found wine,” said Dozier, adding the likeliness of the discovery of a different fruit (causing the tartaric and succinic acids residue) is unlikely. “There are less varieties of fruit produced there.”

It seems it would be easy for tribes in California to make wine from grapes, which were abundant in the state.

“If you put grape juice in a container, it will start fermenting based on temperature,” said Dozier. “All the yeast needed for fermentation can be on the skin of grapes. You start seeing fermentation at 12 hours. Wine should be produced in three days whether it gets a high enough fermentation to be what you consider wine.”

Or Maybe Not
“While there is evidence native Californians harvested and used local wild grapes (Vitis californica), from our understanding, the production of grape wine in California did not take place until the Spanish Mission period,” according to an archivist at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles.

Vitis californica has been abundant in California for centuries, but it is considered too bitter for winemaking. Instead, it has been used for other purposes such as making jelly.
Since Native American tribes often interacted with surrounding tribes, perhaps any winemaking knowledge the tribes in Texas may have had eventually found its way to California.

“I haven’t seen any evidence of California artifacts in the sites in Central Texas, and no California sites have Texas artifacts,” Dozier said.

This suggests California tribes would probably not have learned any possible winemaking techniques from the Native Americans in Texas, but that may never be known. No archaeological digs in the state have made this question a priority, according to Dozier.
“No one has looked for wine residue,” she said. “Also, some areas never produced ceramics.”

An increasing number of winegrape growers are resurrecting an age-old practice of grazing sheep in vineyards to manage weeds, improve soil health, recycle nutrients and potentially reduce costs.

As with any new system, adding sheep comes with its own set of challenges. But many adopters say most issues are easily addressed and don’t discourage them from the practice.

Tommy Fenster, a UC Davis doctoral student, is trying to quantify how integrating sheep and other regenerative practices affect 45 selected vineyards from Lodi to the North Coast. Half are using livestock, while the other half are using conventional weed control and management.

At the end of his research, Fenster said he hoped to develop best management practices for grazing vineyards, incorporating what he found as well as knowledge from producers in Europe and New Zealand. Included will be an economic analysis related to hiring contract grazers.

Fenster’s project also is part of the much larger Ecdysis Foundation 1000 Farms Initiative, a two-year effort to research regenerative farming systems nationwide.

Working with Nature
Since Paicines Ranch was founded in 1846 near Paicines, Calif., cattle and more recently sheep have grazed the hillsides. Beginning in 2001, ranch managers moved to a more holistic approach that used regenerative practices to try to return the exotic annual grasslands to native grasses.

When ranch owner Sallie Calhoun decided to plant a 25-acre vineyard beginning in 2017, she wanted to take a similar path.

“It’s flipping this whole idea of controlling nature and instead working with nature,” said Kelly Mulville, director of wine growing for Paicines Ranches. One of the operation’s goals is to increase biodiversity while remaining profitable.

Winegrapes are not new to the ranch, with it hosting what was at the time the world’s largest varietal vineyard in the 1960s through the 1990s.

Mulville described their latest vineyard endeavor as more of a large-scale experiment that includes 17 different varietals. They looked globally for varieties that would thrive under similar hot, dry climatic conditions as those found near Paicines.

They planted the first 12.5 acres in 2017, hoping to take what they learned and apply it to the second planting of 12 acres in 2000. Mulville said he also sought a trellis design that would allow sheep to be grazed year-round in harmony with the vines.

Texas viticulturist Jerry Watson had developed a trellis system that improved airflow to reduce mildew under humid Texas conditions. But it also elevated cordons to 66 inches, high enough off the vineyard floor to protect fruit from sheep grazing, Mulville said.
At the same time, the trellis design allows sheep to nibble on low-hanging parts of the canopy and provide shoot tipping and suckering. The drip lines are hung just below the cordons. A V-shaped split at the trellis top creates two fruiting walls, allowing leaves to catch more sunlight while partially shading fruit.

“You’re getting more fruit per vine this way, and the quality is very high,” Mulville said, noting a Grenache yield of 5 tons per acre in their third harvest. “We have a rather long wait list for our fruit.”

Mulville planted the vineyard using 6-by-12-foot spacing, about half the vines of a traditional VSP vineyard. The additional spacing not only reduced planting costs but also made it easier for sheep and hand harvest crews to move between rows.

They chose hair sheep because they are hardier than wool breeds and have a wider pallete when it comes to vegetation. Of the 2,000- to 4,000-sheep flock on the ranch, Mulville said they run a portion in the vineyard for short periods based on the growth rate and recovery of the vegetation. By using sheep, they’ve significantly reduced tractor passes to just nine or 10 per season for fungicide sprays and applying and removing bird netting. The sheep also act as nutrient recyclers, eating vegetation and turning it into manure or urine.

“Sheep or any type of animal are not actually producing nutrients; they’re cycling them so they can only produce what they’re taking in off the ground,” Mulville said. “The really important thing with livestock in general is that they’re taking that material, that N, P and K, and they’re making them more available through fermentation in the stomach.”
The urine, in particular, is a good source of nitrogen and potassium and was one reason why Mulville said they chose to set up the vineyard to allow year-round grazing.

Already, he has seen a 5-point Brix increase in their sap analysis, which is an indication of healthy vines. Mulville also noted soil carbon levels had risen by nearly 2%. That equates to about twice the soil moisture holding capacity as it was before they started. During last year’s record rains, he said they saw no runoff.

In addition, Mulville said they’ve documented more than 60 bird species and more than 100 species of plants, most of which were not introduced to the vineyard. Before they planted, they had only found 11 plant species.

Grazing Benefits Organic, Conventional Alike
Vino Farms began looking at sheep for weed control when it began converting some of its vineyards to organic in 2018, said Daniel Meyers, Vino Farms viticulturist in Lodi, Calif.
“When you go organic, you essentially have very few options for weed control,” he said. “It’s just a great way when you go organic to graze everything.”

Their goal was to replace mowers used to reduce vegetation so drill-seeded cover crops would have an easier time getting established. In the process, Meyers said, they found sheep also were good for late-winter or early spring cleanup.

In vineyards with resident vegetation in the middles, the sheep help lower it to reduce frost risk, eliminating another mower pass.

The system worked so well that Vino Farms expanded sheep grazing to conventional vineyards, particularly those in the Delta where the high water table keeps grasses green year-round.

Grazing conventional vineyards also enhances preemergent herbicide activity by removing excess plant matter and improving soil contact.

Altogether, they’re currently using sheep on about 2,000 acres in the northern San Joaquin Valley and Delta because of its cost-effectiveness, Meyers said.

Vino Farms chose to contact for grazing services with Frankie Arburua III, owner of Lodi-based F Ewe Sheep Co. Based on his experience, Meyers said shepherds in the Lodi area charge between $20 and $60 per acre, depending on the acres growers can commit.
As part of the contract with F Ewe Sheep, someone cares for the animals, moves portable electrical fences and transports them among ranches. What makes the arrangement successful is good communication between the parties, Meyers said.

A vineyard, for example, must have a fair amount of vegetation to make it worthwhile for the herder to bring in animals.

“It has to be pretty messy,” he said. If in doubt, Meyers will take a vineyard photo and send it to Arburua for his opinion.

In early spring when they’re applying fungicides, Meyers keeps Arburua in the loop so he can move animals “and he’s ahead of it.”

“It’s really important to have someone you can trust. It just makes it very easy,” Meyers said.

As older vineyards are removed and replanted, he said they likely will move to a single high-wire trellis system that allows for full mechanization of cultural practices. Having the cordons higher off the ground also lends itself to grazing for a much longer part of the season.

Because Vino Farms doesn’t have the facilities or space to maintain their own sheep, he said they plan to continue contracting for grazing services.

Sheep for Rent
And it’s for just that reason that Arburua, a fourth-generation sheep rancher, said he has seen his contract grazing business grow substantially the past few years. In 2021, he conducted a sheep grazing field with the Lodi Winegrape Commission on the 18-acre Schulenberg Vineyard. The vineyard is certified sustainable under Lodi Rules.

“Ever since then, it’s grown from doing 20 acres,” Arburua said.

This season, Arburua has 700 to 800 ewes, not counting lambs they produce, and estimates he’ll graze about 2,000 acres. Eventually, he’d like to build up to about 1,500 ewes.

His brother, Vince, has a separate contract grazing business, VA Livestock, with about 700 to 800 sheep.

Frankie Arburua uses hair sheep because they’re hardier, less prone to hoof rot, have lower nutritional requirements and don’t require sheering like wool sheep do.

How long the sheep are left in a vineyard depends on location, vegetation and the grower’s goals. Arburua said he also weighs the number of animals with the size of the fenced-off paddocks to minimize potential compaction.

The vineyard grazing season typically ends after budbreak in April. But Arburua is exploring how to extend the season and worked with a Linden-area walnut producer in 2023 to run sheep in orchards after grapes. He said the orchards could be grazed for much of the season were it not for food safety rules, which require animals be removed 120 days before harvest. Grapes destined for wine production don’t fall under those rules because fermentation with accompanying alcohol production is considered a pathogen kill step.

Karissa Kruse could easily adopt a bearish outlook for the grape and wine sector this year.
As president and CEO of Sonoma County Winegrowers, she’s well aware of the industry’s challenges, from inflated input costs and worrisome labor challenges to slowing wine demand and increasing competition from ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages.

Yet Kruse chooses to see the glass as half full.

“We’re coming into 2024 with one of the best vintages in the history of Sonoma County,” she said. “The wineries are very excited, and the farmers are happy.”

Moreover, Kruse believes her association’s “Farm of the Future” efforts in sustainability and regenerative farming bode well for Sonoma County’s 1,800 winegrape growers and 60,000 acres of vineyards. And the organization’s new demand-building collaborations with the Houston Rockets basketball team and Landry’s, a major dining and hospitality company, also give Kruse reason to feel optimistic.

“Technology, innovation, mechanization and partnerships are all going to be drivers for long-term viability for our farmers here and everywhere,” she said.

Kruse is not alone in her positive outlook. Other California wine and grape industry leaders are similarly upbeat about the future, although the overall forecast, like wine itself, is complex and varied.

“We are optimistic about 2024,” echoed Joel Peterson, executive director of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, which counts 500 members, including wineries, winegrape growers and associated businesses.

“At a macro level, there are certainly some cloudy skies ahead,” he acknowledged. “You hear that people are drinking less. But we’ve got a lot of innovation here with wineries and producers.”

For example, Peterson said, Paso Robles producers are making progress in regenerative agriculture and reducing their carbon footprint. Some area wineries are moving beyond traditional glass bottles by putting more wines in alternative packaging, such as boxes or reusable vessels. Further, a new, more youthful vibe is emerging in the region with the recent development of Tin City, a collection of tin buildings south of Paso Robles. The hub of 40 tasting rooms, breweries, wineries, distilleries and restaurants has become a popular attraction.

“The other thing that’s exciting is just the growth of our reputation and presence on a national level,” Peterson said. “If you go to any restaurant in America, you’re pretty much going to find a Paso Robles Cabernet by the glass.”

The October 2023 purchase of Daou Vineyards by Treasury Wine Estates for $1 billion, he added, reflects the growing prominence of the Paso Robles wine-producing region.

“That was a big deal for Paso Robles, a fortification of our reputation,” said Peterson. “There are exciting things happening here.”

Opportunities Beckon
Blaire Fraser, vice president of marketing for California-based O’Neill Vintners and Distillers, believes evolving consumer demands offer opportunity to expand sales for growers and wineries. A Certified B Corporation, O’Neill is a major player in the industry, annually producing nearly 7 million cases of wine for multiple brands.

Broad interest in sustainability is driving growth in organic wines, said Fraser. What’s more, consumers are expanding their taste horizons.

“We’re seeing uptake in the light, bright whites such as Sauvignon Blanc,” she added. “In fact, O’Neill is launching a new Line 39 Organic Sauvignon Blanc in 2024.”

Fraser also sees growth potential in the tried-and-true super premium Chardonnay category. “It’s one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of wine,” she said.

Tapping into underdeveloped audiences is another beckoning opportunity. “In California, 40% of consumers are Hispanic,” Fraser said. “There aren’t a lot of brands that have tapped into that audience. That’s another huge opportunity for wine.”

Also voicing optimism is Tyler Thomas, president and winemaker at two Santa Barbara County vineyard-winery operations, Dierberg and Star Lane.

“There are a lot of great wines being made,” Thomas said. “There are still tons of people really interested in wine. And despite news about plateauing wine consumption, I don’t think it’s a slam dunk or that we should be panicking and abandoning the wine industry.”

Not Ignoring Challenges
At the same time, no one expects an easy year ahead. Vineyard pest and plant problems, including grapevine red blotch and Pierce’s Disease, persist. Labor availability and costs rank high among grower concerns. In many winegrowing areas, limited water availability remains an issue. Water shortages, for instance, have resulted in a moratorium on new plantings just east of Paso Robles.

“The general outlook from the grower, and even the winery side, is that 2024 is going to be a challenging year,” said Stuart Spencer, executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission. The organization represents 750 winegrowers in a region that accounts for some 20% of California’s winegrape production.

Supply and demand are out of balance, creating “a very competitive marketplace,” Spencer said. Lodi winegrape growers, for example, haven’t seen significant price growth over the last 20 to 30 years. The average per-ton price paid to the area’s growers is $600 to $650. Compare that to Napa’s growers, who produce far fewer grapes but can command $7,000 per ton.

“Napa has carved out a strong identity,” Spencer said. “But the large winegrape buyers don’t support the Lodi region in that way. They’re not branding Lodi or investing in it from a marketing perspective. They’ll purchase our grapes at a very low price. So, to maintain profitability, growers have responded by increasing production.”

A “COVID hangover” continues to be felt, not just domestically but globally, Spencer added. Another globally tied problem stems from the fact that some of California’s largest grape buyers are also the largest importers of bulk wine.

“If they can source a certain variety from another part of the world at a lower price, they’re going to do that,” said Spencer. “That’s keeping pressure on the industry here.”

Some see consolidation among wineries and distributors as another hurdle. While such unions can bring greater efficiencies and resources to smaller businesses, “it’s harder to get your brand recognized if you’re a small guy trying… to stand out against the big guys,” said Peterson.

A ‘Sputtering’ Market
Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, expects market and grower pricing pressures to continue in 2024. His outlook is shaped by his daily responsibility of selling winegrapes for the cooperative’s 500 grower-members.

Bitter sees a market burdened by the slowdown in demand that began around 2016. Consumption has lagged with the shrinking number of baby boomers, who helped propel wine sales in recent decades. Younger generations haven’t adopted wine in the same way. On top of that, a growing anti-alcohol movement has emerged. The pullback in demand has caused the grape and wine industry to lose shipments and sales volume.

“For the last 18 months, the wine market has been sputtering,” Bitter said.

The wine market, he said, is operating in reactive mode. Retailers aren’t seeing wine move off their shelves as quickly as before partly as consumers worry about rising grocery costs. Even wines below $15 to $18 a bottle have struggled to maintain shipments. That’s led to a slowdown in purchases from distributors. They don’t want to carry excess inventory in their warehouses since higher interest rates add to their storage costs. So, distributors have adopted more just-in-time, or only-when-needed, shipments. In turn, that backs up to the wineries, where tanks stay full. And that diminishes the market for winegrape growers.
“In 2023, we saw the grape market kind of fail, particularly on red grapes,” said Bitter. “Anything that was available for sale was challenging to move at a decent price, particularly in the spot market.” In the Lodi area, he added, “tens of thousands of tons” of red grapes never found a buyer and remained on the vine after harvest.

As a result of the market imbalance, Bitter has been calling for an “acreage adjustment” of 50,000 net acres in vineyard removals. That would amount to about 10% of California’s 570,000 bearing acres of winegrapes.

“That’s the only way to match what we’re producing with what the market’s going to take off our hands,” he said.

Bitter recognizes achieving those acreage reductions won’t be easy. “Developing vineyards is a capital-intensive business,” he said. “Those who have developed vineyards are slow to remove them, particularly healthy, productive vineyards. There’s that mentality that if everybody else pulls out their vineyards, I’ll be the guy who still has my vineyard when the market turns around.”

Further, there aren’t always good alternatives or profitable crops to replace vineyards. A grower’s options depend on the region and the ground farmed. “If you’re going to pull out a vineyard in Napa, what are you going to plant instead?” Bitter asks.

That’s a dilemma Monterey County understands. Over the last five years, growers there have removed nearly 3,000 acres of the county’s total 40,000 acres of vineyards because “of a lack of clarity about what the market’s going to want,” said Kim Stemler, executive director of Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association. The majority of those pulled vineyards were chardonnay and pinot, the county’s top two varietals. While some of the ground was replaced with lemon trees, the question remains.

“What gets planted?” Stemler asked. “That’s the big weight.”

“Survive to ’25”
Spencer said Lodi-area growers are hoping just to make it through the year as they wait for the market to rebalance. “One of our growers jokingly said his motto is ‘Survive to ’25,’ and there’s a lot of truth to that,” he said. “It’s a tough time right now, and there are not a lot of good answers at the moment.”

Still, Spencer believes the Lodi area and other wine regions must be more proactive in bolstering branding efforts, developing a sense of place and story in marketing and rising above the commodity image of their grapes and wine. A closer connection between farms and the consumer would also benefit the industry, he added.

“People are not going to stop drinking wine,” he said. “It’s very much engrained in our community and our society. California and Lodi make incredible wines. We need to take ownership of that as growers and not rely on others to do it.”

Santa Barbara County’s Thomas agreed “brands need to find ways to take market share.” Digital marketing can be particularly useful.

“Even in the wholesale space, you can do direct marketing campaigns to buyers at restaurants or retail shops in Colorado or Florida, and you can do that from your office in California,” he said. “That could potentially help smaller producers maintain a toehold in the wholesale markets.”

All in all, Thomas believes the industry’s headwinds can bring fresh approaches to the grape and wine business. “It’s actually a great opportunity to shuffle the deck and for people to re-think their strategy,” he said. “It’s time to put the pandemic to bed and go forward. And this is the year to do that.”

It’s a two-man show at Indian Peak Vineyard in Manton, Calif. Well, to be honest and exact, it’s a one-man and one-woman show in the form of Fred and Donna Boots, who own and operate the boutique grape growing and winemaking operation at the foothills of the beautiful northern Sierra Nevada Cascades, home to the Lassen Volcanic National Forest.
Looking east from the Boots’ property, visitors see the majestic Lassen Peak, then turn around and enjoy a view that encompasses the breadth of the Upper Sacramento Valley and west to the Trinity Mountain Range.

It’s hard to beat such an experience; however, Fred explains, “Do it with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in your hand and it gets even better.”

When the couple bought the property on Forward Road in 1999, it was rocky, brush-covered ground. Right away, Fred began the arduous task of clearing six acres of the 10-acre property in preparation of planting a vineyard.

“Having a vineyard was something I always wanted to do,” said the self-taught winemaker. “I really never thought I’d be able to do it, but we thought, ‘What the heck,’ and decided to take the chance.”

The couple quit their jobs, Donna working for the Tehama County Conservator and Public Guardians Office and Fred a long career in construction.

“It was such hard work. It began when I was 54 years old and I could pretty much do all the work myself,” Fred said. “I planted it all myself. When I hit 60, I needed a bit of help. When I hit 65, I needed a lot of help, and now that I’m 71, I find I can do very little myself.”
However, his heart is still in it as he lives a dream come true.
With Fred getting his hands dirty, Donna has been busy running the clerical end of things.
“I do all the bookkeeping, keeping up on rules, regulations and compliance, ordering supplies and paying the bills,” she said.

By 2004, the couple built Indian Peak’s winery building and were living on the property by 2005, moving from their home in Cottonwood.

According to Fred, there are two things that brought them to the Manton area when they decided to open a vineyard.

“First is the temperatures; it can be 105 degrees [F] during the day in August and at night down to 55 degrees [F],” he said. “I like the Bordeaux varieties, and you really need big temperature swings to develop the flavors in the Bordeaux varietals.”

As Fred talks about the origins of the Bordeaux varieties of grapes in France, his love the of winemaking is palatable, right along with its hard work, sacrifices, stresses and sobering realities.

“I planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot first on the six planted acres,” he says. “70% is in Cabernet, with a little of each of Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and to really mix things up a bit, I threw in some Cabernet Blanc to produce a white wine.”

Indian Peak’s grapevines thrive on the rich volcanic soils in the region.

The vineyard’s tasting room is homey and welcoming in its simplicity.

Fred says they don’t need anything fancy as the wine sells itself.

“We have had so many truly loyal customers over the years,” Donna said. “Many who have become some of our closest friends. Along with that, we have been host to people from all around the world.”

To share that point, the tasting room is home to a world map littered with dots representing people who have visited Indian Peak from across the globe.

“No two guests are the same, and we really try to make everyone feel like this is right where they need to be,” Donna added.

To keep things simple and provide the couple with the time it takes to successfully operate a vineyard and winery, the Boots live in a fifth-wheel travel trailer adjacent to the building housing the tasting room and winery.

“That provides a lot of convenience,” Fred says.

There was a time when Indian Peak had another partner in the mix, the Boots’ daughter, Christie, and her husband, Trevor, who successfully ran the marketing side of the operation.
However, when Christie passed away, life in the vineyard became a bit difficult on many levels.

Down but not out, the couple laced up their boots and kept going, serving their lovingly created wines, holding special tasting events, annual stomping of the grapes, annual blessing of the grapes and much more.

When visiting Indian Peak, guests are first welcomed by a tall, wooden statue of an Indian warrior at the entrance to the 2,400-square-foot tasting room winery.

The building contains the tasting room, offices, lab room, bottling room, bathroom and storage for tanks, barrels and wine.

The Vineyard
In Manton there are “Red, red, red volcanic soils abound.…,” thanks to volcanic Mt. Lassen, which has helped to provide 28 different soils. These are mostly characterized by gravelly loam and sandy loam found throughout the region, and the soils in general are well draining.

The top Tuscan formation created a significant aquifer within the Battle Creek watershed providing ample annual water.

Indian Peaks Vineyard has dedicated water rights from the state of California, allotted 1.3 decreed miners inches of water, equal to approximately 11 gallons per minutes (GPM). The source of the water is springs and snow melt from Mt. Lassen to the east. The water is delivered from the mountain by the Crooker-Harrison Water Ditch, which serves several neighboring properties, as well as the vineyard.

The water is then distributed throughout vineyard acreage through a drip irrigation system.

American Viticultural Area
The Manton region has been designated a Vineyard American Viticultural Area (AVA) since August 2014, designating it as a wine grape-growing region in the U.S. distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The Federal government officially sanctions the effort to identify truly one-of-a-kind winegrowing districts through its system of “American Viticultural Areas” or “AVAs.”

When appearing on a label, these legal place names impart to the consumer important information and guarantees about the wine’s origin. By law, to use one of these official site designations, 85% of that bottle’s grapes must have been grown within the AVA’s boundaries.

Created in August 2014, the Manton Valley AVA consists of 9,800 acre and now Indian Peak Vineyard and Algian Vineyard.

Estate Bottled means the winery listed on the label owns or controls 100% of the grapes that went into the bottle, and the wine was crushed, fermented, finished, aged and bottled all in the same place, and that place must be located in the same viticultural area. Indian Peak falls under this category with Fred and Donna doing all the work to produce award-winning wines.

Winemaking
Other varietals, such as Zinfandel, Syrah and Chardonnay, are purchased by the Boots from other local vineyards in Tehama and Shasta counties.

Fred said all the wines are crushed, fermented, barrel aged and bottled on location at the winery, and he personally oversees and makes knowledgeable adjustments to the entire process.

He especially enjoys his “job” when he gets to pull the wine from the barrels to test it.
Indian Peak Vineyards has won gold, silver, and bronze medals in international competitions and at the state level for several of its wines.

Indian Peak offers free wine tasting hosted by the Boots where everyone is encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the beauty of the surrounding Sierra Nevada.

The winery can accommodate groups of up to 30 people for special events.

Wine tasting is by the glass with a volume discount and an even larger discount for wine purchase by the case.

“I like to believe we quite possibly offer the best wine tasting available,” says Fred.
“You never know who you will meet next and how they may enlighten you or speak to your soul,” Fred said, “or just simply share a recipe sometimes in these casual conversations about winemaking, types of grapes and the benefits of growing grapes and producing wine, all with your very own hands and heart.”

Because the Boots’ are no longer spring chickens and the work of keeping up with the vineyard is difficult and never-ending, the couple has decided to call it a day and have placed Indian Peak on the market.

“Sometimes, the thought of leaving the place is really difficult, but after a hard day’s work, it doesn’t sound so bad,” Donna added. “Especially for Fred, this has been a dream come true and we wouldn’t have done it any other way. Some of our best memories are planted right here in this soil.”

Fred sits back and opens a bottle of one of his favorite Bordeauxs, pours it into a glass and offers a toast to Indian Peak Vineyard, a two-man, oops, a one-man and one-woman, never-too-old-to-take-the-chance success story.