A midnight hijacking during Prohibition, delicious humor and potatoes have played a part in Los Gatos-Saratoga winery lore.
To start from square one, it was Antoine Delmas, namesake of Delmas Avenue in San Jose, who first brought European wine grapes to Northern California, and Charles Lefranc started the wine industry at the mouth of Almaden Valley.
Another Frenchman, Pierre Pellier, established the industry on the east side of the valley in the 1860s, and his descendants, the Mirassous, later founded a winery in the Blossom Hill area adjacent to Los Gatos.
Los Gatan Clovis Mirassou tells that nurseryman Pellier almost didn't get his vineyards started. Returning from France with clippings, his ship was becalmed coming around the Horn of South America, and his clippings were dying for lack of moisture. Pellier, Clovis relates, prevailed upon the ship's chef to allow him to plant the tips of his clippings into the many potatoes aboard. Thus the clippings were kept alive.
Today's photograph shows the Los Gatos-Saratoga Wine & Fruit Co., which was built in 1885 and served until 1919, when it was torn down because of Prohibition. It was located at Austin Corners, near the intersection of Quito and Los Gatos-Saratoga roads.
Another local winery stood on Villa Avenue behind what today is Los Gatos Civic Center. For many years, the foundation and bottom dirt floor of the winery formed Los Gatos Pageant Grounds stage.
The major winery, of course, was that of Sacred Heart Novitiate at the top of College Avenue. The slogan "Heavenly Wines, Devilishly Good" was a dandy.
When Prohibition dried up the spirits business in 1919, Paul Masson was making the best champagne in California on Mount Eden Road, Saratoga, across from the property of R.V. and Emma Garrod.
The story goes that in 1929, a small gang of men disguised as Prohibition officers raided the Masson Winery and made off with $l00,000 worth of the Frenchman's personal wine and liquor collection.
But what Vince Garrod (and son Vince, who's now head of Garrod Stables and Winery) saw coming down the hill that night was not a few barrels, but a huge load of Masson's champagne. Old timers used to say that Paul made a good sale that night.
The urbanization of the county in the 1950s saw vintners move on. Almaden planted vineyards in San Benito County, while Masson and Mirassou laid out vast spreads in Monterey County.
The account of the Masson hijacking is from an article by wine historian Charles Sullivan.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 24, 1996.
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