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In the late 19th century, there was a boom of activity in the wine business
in the Napa Valley. European wines were expensive and in short supply. San Francisco was a bustling boom town and a train ran from Oakland to Calistoga. Dozens of
wineries were started and thousands of acres of vineyard were planted. In 1873, a German immigrant, Charles Lemme, bought about 285 acres of land on Spring Mountain. He began clearing the land in 1874 and he planted about 65 acres of vineyard. Two years later Lemme, built a small winery of stone and redwood and named it La Perla, "the
pearl." After Jacob Schram, who settled earlier on Diamond Mountain, Lemme was the second man to move into the western hills. Lemme became the first person to
grow and make Cabernet Sauvignon on Spring Mountain.
The vineyard was sold in the 1890’s to the Schilling family, who owned an important spice company in San Francisco. Together with the McPike Vineyards, they were incorporated
in 1903 as the Spring Mountain Vineyard Company. The winery was expanded to handle the larger production of some 350 acres of vineyard controlled by the Schillings. The
vineyard has been continuously farmed since it was first planted, surviving Prohibition. The large stone winery, La Perla, stands today, much as it did a hundred years
earlier; still holding most of the original farming and winemaking equipment. |
