Stemming from a trademark dispute in 2002 between the venerable Mondavi winery and another vineyard using a historic, though long dormant name from Napa Valley’s wine making history, the need for a Napa Valley vineyards historic registry has arisen. Led by the efforts of the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association, the effort intends to document the histories of the 350 vineyards within Napa County.
While most think of Napa Valley and its association with wine as having bloomed in the mid-twentieth century, there were 18,000 vineyard acres there in the late eighteen hundreds. The intention is to document and register that history so that the land is viewed not only for its commercial viability, but also for its historic significance and the historic registry will drive that.
The Napa Valley Grape Growers Association began work on the registry five years ago by asking the local wineries to submit applications for certification but almost none of them held records regarding their vineyards’ histories, and the effort floundered. The new effort will be much more successful given the fact that the Association has hired both a cultural anthropologist and a mapping professional, both of which specialize in northern California land use.
Phase one of the project has been the collection of early maps and historical documents with regard to vineyards planted in the area from 1875 onward. The second phase of the project will then link owners’ names to those historical documents. The third phase will then compare modern maps of vineyards with those historical documents to allow current owners to claim the names and histories associated with the heritage of their vineyards and register their land and vineyards, and claim trademarks, in the Napa Valley Historic Vineyards Registry.
