Long before the vineyards of California's wine country were tended to by Spanish-speaking farmhands, they were filled with Chinese workers. Napa evidently even had its own Chinatown at one point:
Old newspaper articles and other 19th-century accounts show hundreds of Chinese workers in both Napa and Sonoma counties.Many were farmers who brought their agricultural skills to the industry, helping establish vines and working in cellars. "There's more to this story. There's this whole human side of how the valley was developed," says Fong, who has researched the region's history.A 1967 paper by a Napa school official on file at the Napa County Historical Society records that when rains turned the 1887 grape harvest into a muddy mess, keeping wagons out, Chinese workers waded in barefoot and hauled out the grapes.But 19th-century Chinese in California faced fierce discrimination, including laws banning them from owning property and campaigns urging farmers not to hire them. In 1882, Congress passed an immigration ban on Chinese. Populations dwindled and rural Chinatowns disappeared as workers headed to cities.
A curious tidbit to showcase at your next tasting excursion, and an interesting history to ponder the next time you take a sip of a brilliant Napa Valley wine (may I suggest the Joseph Phelps Insignia Napa Valley 2002. Simply amazing).
[HT: Vinography]