Ailbhe J.
5/5
How this vine got here is an interesting story. It apparently originated from present-day San Marino. It is known as the “Ramona” vine.
The story goes that in 1861, L.J. Rose, a nearby landowner, transported a grapevine stalk from his property to this location. Mr Rose was no stranger to grapes, as he was a winegrower. His farm, called Sunny Slope (like the water company), sat adjacent to his neighbor and fellow vintner, Benjamin Wilson, who owned Lake Vineyard. A portion of that land is where the Huntington Library and Lacy Park are now located.
Before L.J. Rose had this vine, however, it reportedly came from a canyon in San Marino, just a stone’s throw west from what is now the Japanese Gardens within The Huntington Library (the gardens are in one of several canyons in this area).
According to one account, this vine cutting was “procured” from Wilson's land by a local resident, named Andrew Courtney. The precise location was Mission Canyon, aka Wild Grape Canyon. Mr Courtney then planted it on his land, which was nearby.
Some time later, L.J. Rose purchased Mr Courtney’s land, but the hearty grapevine stalk - now a bit older - proved to be a nuisance. It was about 4 inches thick and 3 ft tall when it was uprooted. After Rose removed it, he gave it to David Franklin Hall, who co-owned the property where the Grapevine Arbor is now. It was called the Grape Vine Property, as this portion of land had reportedly been one of the Mission’s four vineyards, before secularization under Mexican rule. The other vineyards were nearby, east/northeast of the Mission.
Though this cutting was said to be a “wild grape vine” that came from a canyon, this was not a native California varietal. The vine in this arbor has been tested twice: in 2007 by Spanish researchers, and in 2013 by UC Davis. The results were the same: it was a European vine, which was introduced by colonial Spaniards in the late 1700s. More popularly known as the “Mission grape", it originated in the Castilla-La Mancha region of Spain, known as Listan Prieto (vitis vinifera).
There is a second Mission grape (version 2.0), which is a hybrid, a cross of Listan Prieto and a native Californian varietal. Crossing these two was an arduous task; it involved grafting the branches of the European grapes onto the roots of the North American vine. Eventually, growers would favor the hybrid, and it eventually replaced the former. It was used extensively by the missions, and more so by others when commercial winemaking took off in the 1830s. It is believed that hybridization occurred at or near Mission San Gabriel.
At Olvera Street (formerly called Wine Street), the Avila Adobe has vines growing from its courtyard, having survived for some 200 years. The cuttings were likely planted after 1818, and may have been supplied by the Mission. To determine the variety, these were also tested. The findings revealed that these vines are the hybridized version.
In recent years, local winemakers have been harvesting the grapes from the vines inside the Mission grounds, as well as in Olvera Street, to make the historic Angelica wine. Yields are minimal, so prices are dear.
