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Wine bottle label, “Bargetto’s Pinot Chardonnay,” late 1940s

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@ National Museum of American History

Description

This label from the late 1940s is for Pinot Chardonnay wine made and bottled by Bargetto’s Santa Cruz Winery. Pinot Chardonnay is the historic name for what became simply Chardonnay. In the late 1940s, the acreage of Chardonnay grapes in California was a mere fraction of what it would become by the end of the century.The Bargetto family’s story reflects in many ways the history of Italians in California, with several themes threaded throughout: multiple migrations between Italy and America, opportunity and work in the wine industry, and the importance of family and community. The first Bargettos to arrive in California were Giuseppe (Joseph) and his eldest son Filippo (Philip), who left their ancestral home in Italy’s Piedmont region, in 1890. They settled among other Italians in the winegrowing area around Mountain View, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where they found work at the Casa Delmas Winery. Although Joseph moved back to Italy two years later, Philip remained until 1902, when he returned to Italy to be married. Three years later Philip and his new family arrived back in California, settling first in San Francisco, then, with remarkable prescience, to Mountain View just before the devastating earthquake and fire in 1906.In 1909, back in San Francisco, the Bargettos opened their first family winery on Montgomery Avenue. Philip’s uncle Giovanni (John) arrived from Italy and, with a third partner, Alberto Colombo, they formed the South Montebello Vineyard and Wine Co., where they fermented, aged, and delivered barrels of wine to local...
Format:
Paper (Overall Material)
Rights:
Gift of Bargetto Winery thru John E. Bargetto
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Record Contributed By

National Museum of American History

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution