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Enjoying a chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon? In the 1800s, Chinese immigrants helped introduce those iconic varietals to California's wine country. But as
Via John Jung
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Rescooped by Skuuppilehdet from Chinese American history |
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Via John Jung
John Jung's curator insight,
July 17, 2017 11:54 PM
Ho Po, a Chinese labor contractor from San Francisco, sent 150 of his countrymen to build Buena Vista, Sonoma’s oldest commercial winery. Workers literally dug the t 15-by-30-foot caves of the winery out of rock by hand,” They did backbreaking, physical labor, as well as horticultural work that required significant knowledge and skill. Between 1856 and 1869, Chinese planted the majority of Sonoma County’s 3.2 million grapevines replacing old grapes with with Riesling, Muscatel, Traminer, Black Hamburg, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and other fine European varietals.
However, as the vineyards grew, backlash against the Chinese increased as anti-Chinese leagues were formed in many counties, with whites accusing Chinese of undercutting wages.
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