“It is a perfect summertime red — bright, fruity and young.”

By Cindy Adams

Cindy Adams

Jeff Fadness, owner and winemaker of La Vie Dansante Winery in Gilroy. Photo by Cindy Adams

Long before the beautiful Santa Clara Valley was filled with vineyards producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, there was the Mission grape. Now all but extinct, these dark red grapes thrived in the warm days and cool nights of our valley and were used largely for sacramental wines by the large population of Italian Catholic immigrants.

Introduced to California in the late 18th century, the first planting was done by Father Junipero Serra at what is now Mission San Diego in 1769. As Father Serra traveled north, he planted these grapes at Mission San Gabriel Arcangel and Mission Pueblo Los Angeles and eventually vineyards and sacramental wine making expanded to each of the Spanish missions in Alta California.

Making wine was a leading source of revenue for the missions but, unfortunately, the wine became secularized (made outside the Church) in the 1830s, and eventually the vineyards of the missions began to be abandoned and the grapes were grown in secular vineyards.

Until about 1865, Mission grapes were the only winemaking grapes grown in California and as late as 1888, 4,000 acres of Napa Valley were used to grow Mission grapes. During Prohibition the grape largely disappeared from California, although it was grown in Mexico where they made Mission wine and smuggled it into the United States. When Prohibition ended, the Mission grape largely faded away to be replaced by more popular wine grape varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.

Historically, four types of wines were made from this varietal: white, a dry red, a sweet red (called Angelica), and a sweet brandy-fortified wine. When made into red table wine, these grapes create a very light bodied yet tannic wine, tasting of orange peel and light red fruits, like rhubarb and strawberry. Angelica can be described as quite sweet, with notes of molasses, dried figs and toffee.

As of 2016, the oldest surviving living vine of Mission grape exists at Mission San Gabriel Archangel and, by 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture estimated that Mission grapes are grown on about 400 acres in California, largely in Amador, Calaveras and Santa Barbara counties.

Recently, however, a historic planting of the Mission grape was discovered in the hills of South Gilroy, just off Redwood Retreat Road on a two-acre site known as “Pamela’s Vineyard.” After careful analysis of these vines, they were determined to have been planted in about 1889 on the east side of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

This historic vineyard grows about 300 Carignan vines and 120 Mission Grape vines. The Carignan from this vineyard has been utilized for a few years by Jeff Fadness, owner and winemaker of La Vie Dansante Winery in Gilroy. During the 2023 harvest of Carignan grapes from this vineyard, it was decided, somewhat as a lark, to also harvest the Mission grapes, which ended up yielding about 660 pounds of grapes.

Jeff and his team destemmed and cold soaked these grapes for 24 hours, after which 15 gallons was saignee’d (or bled off) to be used as a Rose. The remaining grapes soaked for another two days to extract as much color as possible to be used as a red table wine.

The wine was fermented, pressed and put into the settling tank for 90 days and, in March of this year, was split into two different lots. Fifteen cases were bottled as “Mission Wine” and bottled as both a Rose and a Red Wine, and five cases were fortified with brandy and bottled as Angelica.

Now bottled and recently released, the “Mission Nouveaux” (named for its take on Beaujolais Noveaux) has been well received in the La Vie Dansante Tasting Room. It is a perfect summertime red — bright, fruity and young. Slightly chilled, this is a perfect libation for your next barbecue as a fun alternative to Gamay or Merlot.

The Rose is enjoying its own success as a lively, flirtatious, semi-sparkling Rose, sold as “Soubrette” in the Tasting Room. The Angelica is still in barrel but the first vintage is expected to be released in time for the 2024 holiday season.

Stop by for a tasting of these unique and delicious wines. La Vie Dansante is located at 6500 Brem Lane in Gilroy (just south of the Gilroy Crossing Shopping Center).

They are open for tasting, either inside their cozy tasting room, or outside in your choice of two lovely garden areas, from noon to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

Cindy Adams, a long-time Morgan Hill resident, is a certified sommelier and certified specialist of wine. She is part of the tasting room staff at Guglielmo Winery.