In 1976, Bob Bliss, with partner Jim Riggs, bonded the first new winery in Calaveras County in 40 years; Chispa Cellars. The true beginning of modern winemaking in Calaveras County, however, must be laid at the feet of Barden Stevenot, a fifth-generation resident of Calaveras. Barden purchased the Shaw Ranch on San Domingo Creek in the late 1960s, without a plan, because he was in love with the valley and the land. The 1970s were the beginning of the expansion of the California wine industry, an industry that until that time had remained in the hands of a few old families or conglomerates in the Napa, Sonoma, San Joaquin, and Cucamonga valleys. Noting that the San Domingo Ranch had the same topography and climate as the wineries in Northern California, and that the San Domingo Valley had been a major grape producer from the 1850s until the vines were removed, Barden saw an opportunity to re-establish a vineyard on this ranch.
Taking crash courses at U.C. Davis and exhaustively interviewing anyone who knew anything about wine, Barden set about developing the ranch into a vineyard. In the face of numerous obstacles, his tenacity and enthusiasm paid off. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel were planted in the early 1970s. A winery was established in the old Shaw hay barn in 1977, with the first tasting room located in the cellar beneath the ranch house. As profits and production grew, more buildings were added, including a modern winery, storage buildings, offices, and a shop. The tasting room was moved to the Alaska House, then to the main ranch house. The recent purchase of the adjacent Gardella/Dragone Ranch at Macaroni Flat and the planting of another 72 acres of grapes attests to Barden’s belief in the future of winemaking in Calaveras County.
Barden encouraged others to purchase land and plant vines in Calaveras County, and was, almost singlehandedly, responsible for the rebirth of the wine industry in the county. The major agricultural industry in the county today, many new wineries have been established, and are being planted as we imbibe. Among these are: Milliare Winery, opened in 1983, Black Sheep and Indian Rock in 1986, Kautz Ironstone in 1989, Chatom in 1991, Malvadino in 1996, and more recently, Zucca Mountain, Laraine Wine/Gerber Vineyards, Domaine Becquet, French Hill, Broll Mountain, Irish, Hatcher, Boitano Family, Brice Station, Newsome-Harlow, and Twisted Oak. By 1997 there were approximately 260 bearing acres in the county, today there are over 1,000, a testament to the foresight of the writer who, in 1892, noted:
If, as some predict, the culture of the vine is to ultimately become the principal industry of the foothill counties of California, then certainly Calaveras will aspire to the leadership, as the conditions here existing are altogether favorable 1(152).