Historical Marker · No. 505
Almadén Vineyards
San Jose, Santa Clara County · California
Erected by California State Park Commission
The bronze gives 1852 to Charles LeFranc; the winery's own history gives it to his father-in-law. Étienne Thée, from Bordeaux, planted on the Guadalupe that year, and LeFranc, a neighbor who married Thée's daughter Marie Adele in 1857, took the business over and brought in the French cuttings. By the 1950s suburbs were closing in, and Almadén moved its vineyards south to Paicines and the Cienega Valley. The bronze is set in a soundwall on Blossom Hill Road. The brick winery building survives in the neighborhood park, and a hand press sits in its rose garden.
What the plaque says
Almadén Vineyards On this site in 1852 Charles LeFranc made the first commercial planting of fine European wine grapes in Santa Clara County and founded Almadén Vineyards. LeFranc imported cuttings from vines in the celebrated wine districts of his native France, shipping them around the Horn under sail. Historical Landmark No. 505 California State Park Commission
Where it stands
37.23916, -121.89553 · Directions
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