Invariably when studying the history of a place, you discover people who made important contributions without receiving lasting recognition.
Some time ago, I was interested purchasing a property just across Highway 29 from Freemark Abbey Winery, north of St. Helena. It was five acres with an older two-story home that could be used as a tasting room. The person showing me around indicated that the house had important historical value, dating back to the 1880’s when it was the home of Josephine Marlin Tychson.
By an unfortunate set of circumstances, Josephine Tychson was the first woman to build and operate a winery in California. She and her husband, John Tychson, purchased the property in 1881. They expanded the small existing vineyard and made plans to pursue their dream of having their own winery. Although suffering from tuberculosis, John Tychson began to develop the winery plans. Unfortunately, he did not live to see those plans take shape.
After her husband’s untimely death, Josephine refused to let their dream die with him. She bravely moved forward with construction of a 50 x 50 foot, 30,000-gallon-capacity redwood winery in 1886. With the help of an experienced winemaker, Nils Larsen, Josephine successfully produced wine for the next eight years. The winery later became the early home of Freemark Abbey Winery.
Rudolph Jordan was another unsung hero and one of the great early Napa Valley winemakers. Jordan came to my attention when I was working on a history of the Mount Veeder Appellation. After selling his own property on Mount Veeder (now Mount La Salle/Hess Collection) in 1900, Jordan became winemaker for the nearby Nicholas Streich Winery (now Yates Family Vineyards). It was here that he would make vital contributions to California winemaking.
Jordan was a well-educated individual – meticulous, inquiring and innovative. Considered a radical by his contemporaries, he was committed to improving winemaking techniques and wine quality. He corresponded extensively with Professor Fredrick T. Bioletti of UC-Berkeley and later UC-Davis. Out of that sharing of ideas and Jordan’s own research came three major winemaking innovations in the early 1900’s that are still followed.
His booklet, "Quality in Dry Wines Through Adequate Fermentations" was published in 1911 (a copy of it still exists in the UC-Davis archives). In it he describes the use of sulfur and bisulfite for settling and protecting fermenting wines; temperature control -- the cooling of white wine fermentations and heating of red wine fermentations; and the addition of pure yeast that he had cultured to start fermentation. Jordan concluded that by use of these techniques, “a product can be obtained that is superior to that made in the old ‘let alone’ way."
Thanks to Josephine and Rudolph for their contributions to Napa Valley winemaking!
Bob Craig