Oral Histories -- ROHO

Philo Biane (b. 1909)
Wine Making in Southern California and Recollections of Fruit Industries, Inc., 1972, 100 pp.
The Prohibition years and the establishment of Fruit Industries; post-Repeal; the Biane family, Southern California wineries, and the French in the California wine industry; Brookside Winery and the cooperative movement; brandy and surpluses; equipment and technology, grape picking, wine handling, vineyard land, merchandising, ownership patterns, and industry practices.

John B. Cella (1918-1998)
The Cella Family in the California Wine Industry, 1986, 75 pp.
John Battista Cella and Lorenzo Cella: purchase of Roma Wine Co., 1924, sale of Roma to Schenley Distillers, 1941; Cella Vineyards, 1944-1961, sale to United Vintners; J. B. Cella II: career with Roma, Cella Vineyards, Allied Grape Growers and United Vintners, Heublein, Inc., and Guild Wineries and Distilleries.

Charles Crawford (b. 1918)
Recollections of a Career with the Gallo Winery and the Development of the California Wine Industry, 1942-1989, 1990, 121 pp.
Education, UC Berkeley, Cornell; Gallo Wine, 1930s-1980s: products, property, equipment and processes, grapes, growers; Gallo employees; working with Ernest and Julio Gallo; research, production, quality control, marketing; evolution of varietals; wine industry changes; Gallo funding for alcoholism research; thoughts on future.

Burke H. Critchfield (1888-1970), Carl F. Wente (1889-1971), and Andrew G. Fredricks (1890-1976)
The California Wine Industry During the Depression, 1972, 79 pp.
Burke H. Critchfield (1888-1970), agricultural economist, discusses California agricultural economics, 1927-34; the wine industry, the Bank of America, and winery financing; the prorate and Central California Wineries; anti-trust charges; Wine Institute programs. Andrew G. Fredricks (1890-1976), banker and technologist, comments on the prorate, Central California Wineries, and Central Winery. Included in the volume is an address by Carl F. Wente (1889-1971) on the economics of the California wine grape industry, 1918-42.

John De Luca (b. 1933), President, Wine Institute
John De Luca: Twenty-Five Years as President, Wine Institute, 1975-2000
Recruitment by Wine Institute, and early challenges: resignations, termination of marketing order for wine, exit of Heublein; new era of increasing exports; importance of political connections; organizational structure, membership policies; issues of trade barriers, labels, taxes, health and social issues, Mediterranean Diet, anti-alcohol groups, media coverage; thoughts on new Federal Dietary Guidelines, French Paradox, labeling.

Louis J. Foppiano (b. 1910)
A Century of Agriculture and Winemaking in Sonoma County, 1896-1996, 1996, 94 pp.
Farming in Healdsburg area, starting 1896; early wineries and winemaking, and Prohibition and Depression eras; Sonoma County Grape Growers Assn.; Foppiano Vineyards: founding, then expansion of winery, 1940s-1990s; vineyard and winemaking practices, involvement of younger generations; Geysers Development Corp.

Ernest Gallo (1909-)
Wine making in California; the E. & J. Gallo Winery, 166 pp.

Horace O. Lanza (1881-1983), and Harry Baccigaluppi (b. 1901)
California Grape Products and Other Wine Enterprises, 1971, 150 pp.
Horace O. Lanza, winemaker, recalls the Prohibition period; California Grape Products Co.; the Italian Vineyard Co. and Guasti; DiGiorgio and Schilling; varieties and regions; grapes, blends and processes; European and American wine making. Harry Baccigaluppi supplements Lanza's recollections and comments on products for home wine making; pricing and marketing; the Wine Institute; changing tastes in wines.

Louis M. Martini (1887-1974) and Louis P. Martini (1918-1998)
Wine Making in the Napa Valley, 1973, 94 pp.
Louis M. Martini (1887-1974), winemaker, chairman of the board of Louis M. Martini Winery, recalls early years in San Francisco; wine making in Pleasanton and Glenvale; working for Guasti; establishing L. M. Martini Grape Products, Napa Valley, 1933; Martini wines. Louis P. Martini (1918-), president of the Martini Winery, discusses the winery, the Martini family, and vineyards; wine industry activities and changes since the 1940s.

Louis P. Martini (1918-1998)
A Family Winery and the California Wine Industry, 1984, 126 pp.
Family, winery at Kingsburg, 1927-1940; education, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, 1937-1941; Louis M. Martini Winery, St. Helena, 1940s: wine men, Napa Valley Technical Group; changes and innovations in the industry: vineyard locations, facilities, laboratory work, harvesting, distribution, judging, promotion, public taste; activities with American Society of Enologists, Wine Institute, Wine Advisory Board.

Peter R. Mondavi (b. 1914)
Advances in Technology and Production at Charles Krug Winery, 1946-1988, 1990, 66 pp.
Wine industry, 1914-1946: shipping grapes to home winemakers, practices prior to cold fermentation; Charles Krug Winery: purchase by Cesare Mondavi, renovation, processing, production, marketing; advances in filtration and clarification; vineyards: diseases, mechanical harvesting, purchasing grapes; new facilities and technical advances in the winery; marketing in the 1980s.

Robert Mondavi (b. 1913)
Creativity in the Wine Industry, 1985, 107 pp.
Italian family background, study at Stanford; career, St. Helena, 1937-1943; Charles Krug Winery purchased by Mondavi; winemaking in the 1940s-1950s: sales, publicity, volume, industry changes; Robert Mondavi Winery: capitalizing, the wines, adding wineries, export and domestic markets; Napa Valley Vintners group; bottle price formula; Mondavi family, Margrit Biever; Opus One, and Baron Philippe de Rothschild; Napa Valley Wine Symposium and Auction.

Antonio Perelli-Minetti (1882-1976)
A Life in Wine Making, 1975, 174 pp.
Italy: family wine making, and enology education; to California, 1902; wine making in Healdsburg, 1904-10; American and European wines and grape varieties; Mexico, 1910-17; background of Delano enterprises; California Grape Products in Ukiah and Delano; DiGiorgio and Guasti; incorporation of Fruit Industries and California Wine Association; winery financing and market stabilization; CWA policy changes; A. Perelli-Minetti & Sons Winery; formation and function of the Wine Advisory Board; winery-grower relationships.

John A. Parducci (b. 1918), Winemaker, winery executive
Six Decades of Making Wine in Mendocino County, California, 1992, xiii, 108 pp.
Winery founded by father and uncle; learning to make wine in the 1930s; assuming responsibilities as winemaker; discusses styles of making wine, emphasizing varietals, expansion of winery, acquiring vineyards; purchase of winery by Teachers Management & Investment Corp.; experimenting with French-American blends; marketing.

Louis A. Petri (1912-1980)
The Petri Family in the Wine Industry, 1971, 67 pp.
The Petri family immigration from Italy; Prohibition years and early post-Repeal years; creation of Allied Grape Growers; acquisition of Italian-Swiss Colony; the wine tanker Angelo Petri; sale of United Vinters to Allied Grape Growers (Heublein); wine marketing patterns; acquisition of properties; national corporations and premium wineries; stabilization and the Bank of America.

Victor Repetto (1894-1973) and Sydney J. Block
Perspectives on California Wines, 1976, 65 pp.
Victor Repetto (1894-1973), wine industry executive, discusses the California Grape Products Co., Joseph DiGiorgio and the Guasti family, and Prohibition and Repeal. Sydney J. Block, sales representative for California wines, comments on the California Wine Association; the Rossi Brothers, and other California wine men; the pre-Prohibition shippers and the post-Repeal period; wine merchandising, the New Orleans market in 1969; and the Block family.

Edmund A. Rossi (1888-1974)
Italian Swiss Colony and the Wine Industry, 1971, 103 pp.
The founders of the Italian-Swiss agricultural colony; the Rossi and Caire families; winery changes, and affiliation with the California Wine Association; 1911 to Prohibition; Asti Grape Products Co.; Prohibition period activities; industry organizations and the prorate; Repeal, and sale to National Distillers, 1942; management of the Wine Advisory Board, 1948-60.

Edmund A. Rossi Jr. (1924-1996)
Italian Swiss Colony, 1949-1989: Recollections of a Third-Generation California Winemaker, 1990, 148 pp.
Three generations of Rossi family winemakers; winery at Asti, CA; various owners of Italian Swiss Colony; discusses flavored wines, influence of Louis Petri, winery personnel, brandy and high-proof wines; research and development of products, international investigations for Heublein; professional organizations and research papers; modern advances in the vineyard and the winery.
Italian Swiss Colony and the wine industry : oral history transcript / and related material, 1969-1971

Louis (Bob) Trinchero (b. 1936)
California Zinfandels, a Success Story, 1992, 144 pp.
Buying Sutter Home winery in 1946; making wine in the Napa Valley in 1950s and 1960s, specializing in red Zinfandel; development and growth of white Zinfandel in 1970s; expanding winery and acquiring and developing vineyards; other varietal wines; wine industry today.