Buena Vista Press House

Buena Vista Press House. Erected in 1862. , Our Press House, the first stone winery building in America, was built in 1862 from volcanic stone cut out of the solid wall of the Mayacamas Mountains. Wine was made in this building the grapes were brought to the front door by horse-drawn wagons filled with 35 wooden boxes - 50 pounds of grapes in each box. Ripe grapes were dumped into a large metal container - which was brought by steam power to the grape crusher-destemmer at the top of the second floor. The crushed skins of the grapes and juice (without the seeds and stems) would then fall down into large fermentation tanks made of redwood. Each of these held 4,000 gallons, and extended to the second floor., The Press House was a miracle of 19th century steam-power, all the apparatus was run by a steam engine which turned iron wheels--two inch leather belts snaking through the building propelled the modern machinery The steam engine was housed in a wooden building to the left of the Press House against the hillside- you can see steam rising from the engine in this lithograph from 1863. Wine was made in the Press House until 1878, when a national recession and the effects of the dreaded root-louse Phylloxera closed the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society, California's First Premium Winery-1857