The City of Vines: A History of Wine in Los Angeles

"The story of California's world-renowned wine trade originates not in Napa but in an isolated hamlet now called Los Angeles. This sweeping chronicle returns the megalopolis to a dusty pueblo streaming with grapevines grown for the production of claret, port, sherry; angelica, and hock. From this rural beginning, Thomas Pinney charts the course of the wine industry in the City and County of Los Angeles over the course of three centuries and under the flags of three nations. Along the way, we explore particular enterprises, including the early dominance of the Mission grape, Anaheim's foundation as a German winemaking settlement, the dubious practice of doctoring wines with additives such as molasses and walnut juice, and cutthroat competitive tactics employed by wine producers known as the "Big Three." More than a recounting of an industry's rise and fall, though, this history puts into microcosm the complex forces that transformed California as a whole: colonial expansion dependent on labor of indigenous peoples; the Gold Rush population boom; transcontinental railroads; rapid urbanization; and Prohibition. In a previously hidden history brought brilliantly to light by one of the country's preeminent wine historians, The City of Vines uncovers an era when California wine meant Los Angeles wine."