Crush: The Triumph of California Wine
by John Briscoe
California's First Winemakers
The first wine in the New World
Arrived on Christopher Columbus' ships.
The first American vintners were Spaniards
Who settled 16th century South Carolina.
Wherever Catholic missionaries ventured
So went wine and winemaking
As mass requires the sacramental liquid.
The first vineyard in Baja (California) might have been planted by Father de Ugarte, at Mission San Francisco Xavier, which was founded circa 1699. Later a number of the other Jesuit missions developed their own vineyards and wineries.
Wine went with Franciscans to Alta California
And where the priests rooted so did its vines.
As for when California winemaking specifically began, some have asserted that the first vineyards were planted at the first mission, Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá, in 1769.