Howell Mountain’s Wine History

For a hundred years, the largest part of the population of the Angwin area have been members of the Seventh-day Adventist faith, whose members shun the use of alcoholic beverages. Despite this, a rich viticultural history had already been established on Howell Mountain.

A relatively flat tabletop of mostly forested land, Howell Mountain encompasses some 14,000 acres, more than 2,000 acres of which has been owned since 1909 by Pacific Union College. Although vineyards were seen on Howell Mountain long before the end of the 19th century, total acreage was relatively small.

Not much growing activity went on in the Angwin area until the end of the 1870s, when interest in grape production began to grow. Inexpensive land on Howell Mountain made it a natural choice.

One of the first vineyards on “The Hill” — as Howell Mountain came to be known — was planted by Jean V. Chaix and Jean Adolf Brun in 1877. When a few tons of their grapes made their way into a fermenter the results were “astounding.”

The Howell Mountain Winery built by the two men produced 150,000 gallons of wine per year. Their winery was linked to partners who ran a winery in Oakville, and together they produced a Nouveau Medoc wine, one of the most successful during the wine boom of the 1880s.

The most famous wine-grower to move onto Howell Mountain in the 1880s was Charles Krug, who planted about 100 acres of vines on The Hill in 1884. Krug noted that his Howell Mountain vines produced fruit with a unique flavor, unlike the fruit grown on the floor of the Napa Valley. W.A.C. Smith also planted about sixty acres on The Hill in 1884.

Vineyards on The Hill began to develop a great reputation for wines, and by the end of the 1880s even St. Helena wineries in Napa Valley were starting to make Howell Mountain wine.

J. Thomas Winery in St. Helena was making about 25,000 gallons of Howell Mountain wine, but the man who made wine grown on The Hill famous world-wide was W.S. Keyes. He established the Liparita Vineyard in 1880, and later built an impressive stone winery that still stands on Las Posadas Road in Angwin.

Keyes was the son of General E.D. Keyes, an early commandant of the San Francisco Presidio, whose Edge Hill Winery on the Napa Valley floor was an important part of the wine world during those days.

By 1891, there were about 600 to 700 acres of wine grapes planted on Howell Mountain.

Edwin Angwin, who gave the village its name, had a five-acre vineyard. S. Baskerville had ten acres; J. Martinelli had eight acres; and the Murray Brothers had 15 acres.

Keyes’s wine had an excellent reputation, and he entered his wines in the Paris Exposition.

Another Howell Mountain grape grower was Frederick Hess, who established his Pine Crest Vineyard Company winery near Keyes’s vineyards in 1890, and in 1898 built the La Jota Vineyard Company winery from native stones quarried on the property.

At the Paris Exposition, Keyes entered two wines and Hess entered three. Keyes took home a gold medal for his claret, and Hess won a bronze for his La Jota Blanco table wine.

Keyes’s victory was all over the press, and his Howell Mountain Claret helped the longstanding reputation of Howell Mountain wines.

At the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, Keyes repeated his triumph by winning the grand prize for his red wine.

Following Prohibition, some vineyards still remained on The Hill, but for the most part they were abandoned or ripped up. When repeal came in 1933, some wineries started up again but they didn’t last long. As a result, Howell Mountain lost its mystique for growing fine wines until recently.

Today, though, the Howell Mountain appellation has risen again to glory, widely known for intense zinfandel, as well as full-bodied cabernet sauvignon and merlot.