Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Numbers over the arch suggest 'prenatal' should be added to the terms 'varietal' and 'sacramental.'

Saratoga Stereopticon

Willys Peck

Winery's real history is not in the numbers

It's been some time since I was there, but my guess is that the large numerals 1852 are still in place over the door of the Mountain Winery on the old Paul Masson property off Pierce Road.

The date, of course, refers to the genealogical claim on behalf of Paul Masson wines and champagne, "Since 1852." Being of a suspicious and cynical nature--a useful attribute in newspaper work and the practice of law--I believe that the numbers were installed there as a public relations put-on (I was going to say "con job") to suggest that the stone winery was built that year. In this, the perpetrators were aided and abetted by the State of California, which, in about 1960, recognized the Paul Masson Mountain Winery as State Historical Landmark 733, with a marker that reads in part:

"Premium wines and champagne have flowed continuously since 1852 from the winery that bears the name of Paul Masson. ... Twice partially destroyed by earthquake and fire, the original sandstone walls still stand..."

From the adroit construction (I was going to say "weasel-wording") of this statement, I would say that it had to have been written by a lawyer. Notice that it doesn't say flat-out that it had been Masson's winery since 1852; there could have been previous owners of the "winery that bears the name." But it is sufficient to plant the idea, especially with a stone building of ancient-appearing lineament.

Among those gulled was a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner who, in July 1987, was explaining the proposed sale of the property. "Vintners International," he wrote, "is asking $10 million for the site where Burgundy-born (Paul) Masson began his wine-making business in 1852."

Seeing as how Masson wasn't born until 1859, this had to be the neatest trick of the week. It also would have added "prenatal" to the list of such wine-making terms as "varietal" and "sacramental."

OK, so where did the 1852 date come from? Glad you asked, and there will be a quiz at the end of the period. That was the year Etienne Thee set out a vineyard south of San Jose, toward New Almaden. Among his workers was one Charles Le Franc, or Lefranc, who married the boss' daughter and who, in time, succeeded to his father-in-law's interests. Later, Lefranc employed a young immigrant from France, the Burgundy-born Paul Masson, who, in 1888, married his boss' daughter. Lefranc and Masson became partners and, for a time, marketed their wine under the name Lefranc & Masson.

Ultimately, and I'm not sure when it occurred, the Masson organization tacked on the careers of the two forebears to get 1852.

About that stone winery: It is recorded that the 1906 earthquake heavily damaged the buildings, including the winery, on the Saratoga vineyard property that Masson had acquired about a dozen years before.

There is no account of how the original Masson winery appeared, but I think it's a fair surmise that the structure as we see it today is entirely post-1906, regardless of the impression conveyed by those numbers over the door.

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