The Mission grape, so named because it was first propagated in California by the mission padres for sacramental and medicinal purposes, is definitely of vinifera (wine bearing) origin. Although no perfect match has been found in the Old World, it is clearly related to the Pais in Chile, the Grande Criollo in Argentina, and the Criollo in Mexico, while some believe it to be a close relative of the Monica grape of Sardinia. Because it was a part of the New World culture for over 250 years before it was carried to the missions in Alta California in the 1770s, it may be a result of one or more crosses or chance hybridization.
Although the grape was planted at many of the missions in Alta California, most of the cuttings used to propagate vineyards in Southern California in the late 1700s were taken from the vina madre, the mother vine, at Mission San Gabriel Arcangel. By the 1820s the mission had the largest vineyard in Alta California and the padres were producing about 500 barrels of wine and 200 of brandy annually. The origins of the huge vineyards planted in the Los Angeles area from the 1790s through the 1850s were from this vine 1:(217-218).
The Mission grapes planted in Calaveras County may have come from several sources: Mission San Jose and its surrounding ranches, Charles Weber’s Campo de los Franceses in Stockton, Sutter’s Hock Farm, or Steven Burge’s ranch in Placer County, who all planted Mission grapes prior to 1852.
(by Judith Marvin, Foothill Resources, Ltd., Murphys, CA, 2006)