Jean-Louis Vignes
Encyclopedia
Jean-Louis Vignes or as he was known to his Mexican neighbors, "Don Luis del Aliso", was a French settler to the Los Angeles area during the Mexican era. He was the first commercial wine maker in California and one of the first men to import and plant European Vitis vinifera
grapes in the state. A skilled cooper by trade and an adventurer and entrepreneur by choice, he arrived in the Sandwich Islands
on July 6, 1827. After losing his business in Honolulu, he sailed to California and landed at Pueblo de Los Angeles
in 1831. In 1850, Vignes was the largest wine producer in California.
, a village downriver from Cadillac, Gironde
near Bordeaux
, France. He grew up with two brothers, Pierre and Pierre Esliens, and two sisters, both named Marie. The Vignes were artisans. They made barrels for the local wine industry, they raised their own wine, and they processed lees to manufacture wine lees ash, which was used to make fertilizer.
On 21 Pluviôse Year X
, or February 10, 1802, Jean-Louis Vignes married Jeanne Simon, who was the daughter of Etienne Simon and Marie Laillou. They moved into the family house in Béguey which they acquired on December 30, 1816, along with its cellars and workshop, the vines, 3.2 acres (12,950 m²) of ploughable lands, and "the copper brandy still that contains three barrels." Jean-Louis Vignes paid 2,100 Francs "in good metallic currency". His signature on the contract was adorned with the three dots of the Freemasons
.
Jean-Louis Vignes became a local public figure. He was often a witness to marriages and contracts. In 1820, he managed the census in Cadillac
, and his name stood prominently at the top of the list. At the end of 1820, his mortgages exceeded 20,000 francs and he ran into financial difficulties. On April 25, 1826, he stopped paying his father the pension he owed, and all his properties were mortgaged. He may also have had political troubles. Indeed, in 1824 the new king was the ultra-royalist Charles X, who, in an attempt to erase the effects of the Revolution, gave all the public jobs to nobles, and all the citizens who had held public positions under the Republic were considered suspect. Father Alexis Bachelot
, who would hear Vignes in confession much later, wrote in a private letter: "Vignes was driven to leave his country after troubles caused by his loyalty, misunderstood considerateness, and too much facility to be of help."
and entered the Atlantic Ocean with her approximately 30 passengers and her large crew. After stops at Isla de los Estados
(Argentina), Valparaíso
(Chile), Quilca
and Callao
(Peru) and Mazatlán
(Mexico), the Comète landed in Honolulu on July 6, 1827. Jean-Louis Vignes settled to start a new life on a small property about three miles (5 km) from Honolulu and started raising sugar cane, vines, turkeys, and a few cattle. In October 1828, he was hired as manager of Oahu's rum distillery and sent 60 piasters to his family that had remained in France. However, the manufacture and sale of liquor did not sit well with the Reverend Hiram Bingham
and his puritan flock. Reverend Bingham successfully pressured Queen Kaahumanu to outlaw the sale of rum. In December 1829, the distillery was closed and the sugar cane plantations were destroyed.
In 1830, Jean-Louis Vignes sailed from Oahu on the trading bark "Louisa", under the command of Captain George Wood. The vessel was owned by John Coffin Jones
and was a permanent link between the islands and the mainland. She had come from Boston with a cargo of assorted merchandise to trade in the Islands. Vignes landed in Monterey, Alta California
, on June 26, 1831. On July 15, 1831, Vignes applied for a Mexican carta de seguridad, stating his occupation as cooper
and distiller. Thereafter, he is often called Juan-Luis Vignes in period documents.
. He planted a vineyard and started preparing to make wine. He named his property El Aliso after the centuries old tree found near the entrance.
The grapes available at the time, of the Mission variety
, were brought to Alta California by the Franciscan
Brothers at the end of the 18th century. They grew well and yielded large quantities of wine, but Jean-Louis Vignes was not satisfied with the results. Therefore, he decided to import better vines from Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc
and Sauvignon Blanc
. The vines transited around Cape Horn. To preserve their roots during the long trip, they were inserted in moss and potato slices. Vignes became the first Californio
who grew quality vines, and the first who aged his wines. The common practice at the time was to drink the wine as soon as it was fermented. The exact date of his first vintage is unknown. However, it was probably before 1837, because in 1857 he ran an advertisement claiming that some of his wines were 20 years old. The wood for the barrels came from land Vignes owned in the San Bernardino Mountains
.
In 1840, Jean-Louis Vignes made the first recorded shipment of California wine. The Los Angeles market was too small for his production, and he loaded a shipment on the Monsoon, bound for Northern California. By 1842, he made regular shipments to Santa Barbara
, Monterey
and San Francisco. By 1849, El Aliso, was the most extensive vineyard in California. Vignes owned over 40,000 vines and produced 150,000 bottles, or 1000 barrels, per year.
As a prominent citizen of Los Angeles, Jean-Louis Vignes met and entertained such well known men as General William Tecumseh Sherman, Thomas Larkin
, William Heath Davis
and Thomas ap Catesby Jones
. His wine was drunk all over California and samples were sent to President Tyler in Washington, D.C. and to France.
He was quite successful in agriculture. In 1834, he brought a few orange trees from Mission San Gabriel, and planted the first orange grove in Los Angeles. In 1851, he wrote that his two orange groves produced between 5000 and 6000 oranges per season. He also grew 400 peach trees, as well as apricots, pears, apples, figs, and walnuts.
Vignes was the patentee of both Rancho Temecula
and the adjacent Rancho Pauba
in the Temecula Valley.
In 1855, Jean-Louis Vignes sold El Aliso to his nephews Pierre Sainsevain
and Jean-Louis Sainsevain for $40,000, the largest sum of money ever paid for real estate in California at the time. After his retirement, Vignes continued to be involved in the community. In 1856, he made a large gift to the Catholic Sisters of Charity to participate in the financing of the first hospital, which opened on May 31, 1858. He also contributed to the founding of the first Los Angeles public school.
Jean-Louis Vignes died in Los Angeles on January 17, 1862, at the age of 82.
and urged them to join him in California. Almost twenty of them followed him: three of his five children (Marie, Jeanne, Jean) and their respective families; his youngest brother (Pierre Esliens); four nephews (Pierre Sainsevain, Jean-Louis Sainsevain, Jean-Marie Vignes, Vital Vignes) as well as numerous friends of the family. Jean-Louis's wife Jeanne never left France and died in Béguey in 1842.
The area around Vignes' estate had, by the 1850s, become the center of French settlers in Los Angeles, which fully numbered around one tenth of the European and Yankee population at the time, and was known as "French Town".
Vignes and Aliso Streets, in modern day Los Angeles, commemorate Jean-Louis Vignes contribution to California's history and wine industry.
Vitis vinifera
Vitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran....
grapes in the state. A skilled cooper by trade and an adventurer and entrepreneur by choice, he arrived in the Sandwich Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
on July 6, 1827. After losing his business in Honolulu, he sailed to California and landed at Pueblo de Los Angeles
Pueblo de Los Angeles
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles was the Spanish civilian pueblo founded in 1781, which by the 20th century became the American metropolis of Los Angeles....
in 1831. In 1850, Vignes was the largest wine producer in California.
Early years in France
Jean-Louis Vignes was born to Jean Vignes and Elizabeth Cato on April 9, 1780, in BégueyBéguey
Béguey is a commune on the right bank of the Garonne river in the Gironde department in southwestern France.-Population:-Personalities:One of Béguey's famous sons is Jean-Louis Vignes, pioneer of the California wine industry.-References:*...
, a village downriver from Cadillac, Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
near Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, France. He grew up with two brothers, Pierre and Pierre Esliens, and two sisters, both named Marie. The Vignes were artisans. They made barrels for the local wine industry, they raised their own wine, and they processed lees to manufacture wine lees ash, which was used to make fertilizer.
On 21 Pluviôse Year X
Pluviôse
Pluviôse was the fifth month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word pluviosus, which means rainy....
, or February 10, 1802, Jean-Louis Vignes married Jeanne Simon, who was the daughter of Etienne Simon and Marie Laillou. They moved into the family house in Béguey which they acquired on December 30, 1816, along with its cellars and workshop, the vines, 3.2 acres (12,950 m²) of ploughable lands, and "the copper brandy still that contains three barrels." Jean-Louis Vignes paid 2,100 Francs "in good metallic currency". His signature on the contract was adorned with the three dots of the Freemasons
Grand Orient de France
The Grand Orient de France is the largest of several Masonic organizations in France and the oldest in Continental Europe, founded in 1733.-Foundation:...
.
Jean-Louis Vignes became a local public figure. He was often a witness to marriages and contracts. In 1820, he managed the census in Cadillac
Cadillac, Gironde
Cadillac is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Geography:Cadillac is directly across the Garonne river from Sauternes, and is known for producing sweet dessert wines under the Cadillac AOC designation.-History:...
, and his name stood prominently at the top of the list. At the end of 1820, his mortgages exceeded 20,000 francs and he ran into financial difficulties. On April 25, 1826, he stopped paying his father the pension he owed, and all his properties were mortgaged. He may also have had political troubles. Indeed, in 1824 the new king was the ultra-royalist Charles X, who, in an attempt to erase the effects of the Revolution, gave all the public jobs to nobles, and all the citizens who had held public positions under the Republic were considered suspect. Father Alexis Bachelot
Alexis Bachelot
Alexis John Augustine Bachelot was a Roman Catholic priest best known for his tenure as the first Prefect Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands. In that role, he led the first Catholic mission to the Kingdom of Hawaii....
, who would hear Vignes in confession much later, wrote in a private letter: "Vignes was driven to leave his country after troubles caused by his loyalty, misunderstood considerateness, and too much facility to be of help."
Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)
Jean-Louis Vignes obtained a passport in Bordeaux. He was described on the application as 45 years old, 5’8" tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, and an oval face with a big nose and a round chin. On November 17, 1826, he boarded the commerce vessel "Comète", which was under the command of Captain Antoine Plassiard. On November 20, 1826, the "Comète" left the Gironde estuaryGironde estuary
The Gironde is a navigable estuary , in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Garonne just below the centre of Bordeaux...
and entered the Atlantic Ocean with her approximately 30 passengers and her large crew. After stops at Isla de los Estados
Isla de los Estados
Isla de los Estados is an Argentine island that lies off the eastern extremity of the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire Strait...
(Argentina), Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
(Chile), Quilca
Quilca District
Quilca District is one of eight districts of the province Camaná in Peru.-References:...
and Callao
Callao
Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...
(Peru) and Mazatlán
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...
(Mexico), the Comète landed in Honolulu on July 6, 1827. Jean-Louis Vignes settled to start a new life on a small property about three miles (5 km) from Honolulu and started raising sugar cane, vines, turkeys, and a few cattle. In October 1828, he was hired as manager of Oahu's rum distillery and sent 60 piasters to his family that had remained in France. However, the manufacture and sale of liquor did not sit well with the Reverend Hiram Bingham
Hiram Bingham I
Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I , was leader of the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands.-Life:...
and his puritan flock. Reverend Bingham successfully pressured Queen Kaahumanu to outlaw the sale of rum. In December 1829, the distillery was closed and the sugar cane plantations were destroyed.
In 1830, Jean-Louis Vignes sailed from Oahu on the trading bark "Louisa", under the command of Captain George Wood. The vessel was owned by John Coffin Jones
John Coffin Jones
John Coffin Jones Jr. was the first United States Consular Agent to the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Life:John Coffin Jones Jr. was born in 1796 in Massachusetts.His father was John Coffin Jones, Sr...
and was a permanent link between the islands and the mainland. She had come from Boston with a cargo of assorted merchandise to trade in the Islands. Vignes landed in Monterey, Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
, on June 26, 1831. On July 15, 1831, Vignes applied for a Mexican carta de seguridad, stating his occupation as cooper
Cooper (profession)
Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...
and distiller. Thereafter, he is often called Juan-Luis Vignes in period documents.
Los Angeles
Upon arriving in Los Angeles in 1831, Jean-Louis Vignes he bought 104 acre (0.42087344 km²) of land located between the original Pueblo and the banks of the Los Angeles RiverLos Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
. He planted a vineyard and started preparing to make wine. He named his property El Aliso after the centuries old tree found near the entrance.
The grapes available at the time, of the Mission variety
Mission (grape)
Mission grapes are a variety of Vitis vinifera introduced from Spain to the western coasts of North and South America in the 16th century by Catholic New World missionaries for use in making sacramental, table, and fortified wines.-History:...
, were brought to Alta California by the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
Brothers at the end of the 18th century. They grew well and yielded large quantities of wine, but Jean-Louis Vignes was not satisfied with the results. Therefore, he decided to import better vines from Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
and Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...
. The vines transited around Cape Horn. To preserve their roots during the long trip, they were inserted in moss and potato slices. Vignes became the first Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
who grew quality vines, and the first who aged his wines. The common practice at the time was to drink the wine as soon as it was fermented. The exact date of his first vintage is unknown. However, it was probably before 1837, because in 1857 he ran an advertisement claiming that some of his wines were 20 years old. The wood for the barrels came from land Vignes owned in the San Bernardino Mountains
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a short transverse mountain range north and east of San Bernardino in Southern California in the United States. The mountains run for approximately 60 miles east-west on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert in southwestern San Bernardino County, north of the...
.
In 1840, Jean-Louis Vignes made the first recorded shipment of California wine. The Los Angeles market was too small for his production, and he loaded a shipment on the Monsoon, bound for Northern California. By 1842, he made regular shipments to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
and San Francisco. By 1849, El Aliso, was the most extensive vineyard in California. Vignes owned over 40,000 vines and produced 150,000 bottles, or 1000 barrels, per year.
As a prominent citizen of Los Angeles, Jean-Louis Vignes met and entertained such well known men as General William Tecumseh Sherman, Thomas Larkin
Thomas O. Larkin
Thomas Oliver Larkin was an early American emigrant to Alta California and a signer of the original California Constitution. He was the United States' first and only consul to the California Republic.-Early years:...
, William Heath Davis
William Heath Davis
William Heath "Kanaka" Davis, Jr. was an early settler of San Diego, California.-Life:Davis was born in 1822, in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands to William Heath Davis, Sr. and Hannah Holmes Davis, a daughter of Oliver Holmes, royal governor of Oahu, and relative of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.. Both...
and Thomas ap Catesby Jones
Thomas ap Catesby Jones
Thomas ap Catesby Jones was a U.S. Navy officer during the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War.-Early life:Jones was born in 1790 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Thomas ap Catesby Jones means Thomas, son of Catesby Jones in the Welsh language. His brother was Roger Jones, who would become...
. His wine was drunk all over California and samples were sent to President Tyler in Washington, D.C. and to France.
He was quite successful in agriculture. In 1834, he brought a few orange trees from Mission San Gabriel, and planted the first orange grove in Los Angeles. In 1851, he wrote that his two orange groves produced between 5000 and 6000 oranges per season. He also grew 400 peach trees, as well as apricots, pears, apples, figs, and walnuts.
Vignes was the patentee of both Rancho Temecula
Rancho Temecula
Rancho Temecula was a Mexican land grant in present day Riverside County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Feliz Valdez. The grant extended south along the east bank Murrieta Creek to Temecula Creek and encompassed present day Temecula, Murrieta and Murrieta Hot...
and the adjacent Rancho Pauba
Rancho Pauba
Rancho Pauba was a Mexican land grant in present day Riverside County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Vicente Moraga and Luis Arenas. The grant was east of present day Temecula. At the time of the US patent, Rancho Pauba was a part of San Diego County...
in the Temecula Valley.
In 1855, Jean-Louis Vignes sold El Aliso to his nephews Pierre Sainsevain
Pierre Sainsevain
Pierre "Don Pedro" Sainsevain was a French settler in California during the Mexican era. Sainsevain was the recipient of a Mexican land grant, and built a lumber mill and a flour mill...
and Jean-Louis Sainsevain for $40,000, the largest sum of money ever paid for real estate in California at the time. After his retirement, Vignes continued to be involved in the community. In 1856, he made a large gift to the Catholic Sisters of Charity to participate in the financing of the first hospital, which opened on May 31, 1858. He also contributed to the founding of the first Los Angeles public school.
Jean-Louis Vignes died in Los Angeles on January 17, 1862, at the age of 82.
Family of immigrants
Proud of his achievements, Jean-Louis Vignes wrote to his family members back in CadillacCadillac, Gironde
Cadillac is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Geography:Cadillac is directly across the Garonne river from Sauternes, and is known for producing sweet dessert wines under the Cadillac AOC designation.-History:...
and urged them to join him in California. Almost twenty of them followed him: three of his five children (Marie, Jeanne, Jean) and their respective families; his youngest brother (Pierre Esliens); four nephews (Pierre Sainsevain, Jean-Louis Sainsevain, Jean-Marie Vignes, Vital Vignes) as well as numerous friends of the family. Jean-Louis's wife Jeanne never left France and died in Béguey in 1842.
The area around Vignes' estate had, by the 1850s, become the center of French settlers in Los Angeles, which fully numbered around one tenth of the European and Yankee population at the time, and was known as "French Town".
Vignes and Aliso Streets, in modern day Los Angeles, commemorate Jean-Louis Vignes contribution to California's history and wine industry.