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From Vine to Wine: Highlights from Special Collections

Wine Pamphlets and Wine Labels

This section highlights pamphlets from the Wine Pamphlet Collection as well as California wine labels from the Maynard A. Amerine Papers. Archives and Special Collections at UC Davis Library holds one of the largest wine pamphlet collections in the world in a variety of languages, such as French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and many more.

The labels provide examples of how California wines have been historically described and promoted. According to UC Davis professor of enology, Harold W. Berg (1909-1984), the labeling and description of California wines had been inconsistent and confusing due to three different labeling practices:

Wines were being labeled by using wine-producing regions in Europe (e.g., Burgundy, Champagne, etc.)
Producers were creating proprietary names to try to encourage consumers to remember their wines
Labels listed the grape varieties that were used to create the wines

Can evidence of these practices be found on the labels below?

View more labels at UC Davis Library Digital Collections

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"The first and only edition of this illustrated guide to grape cultivation written by Ozawa Zenpei (1840-1904), an important pioneer of wine in Japan. Ozawa was responsible for introducing over one hundred varieties of grapes to Japan from overseas, especially from America. The current work discusses plant cultivation; preparation of the soil; care of the vines (one chapter devoted to the first year, another to the second year); and the importance of selecting the variety of grape according to the weather of the region. The several woodcut illustrations depict the Delaware grape; grape leaves (five different types of vines, one of which is the Japanese variety "Edo"); and various planting and grafting techniques. Interestingly ... there is quite a bit about Andrew Fuller (1828-1896), the extremely influential American viticulturist whose work The Grape culturist (first ed.: 1864) was a nineteenth century best-seller. [Ozawa] ... has translated numerous parts of Fuller's text into Japanese (beginning on leaf "14," i.e. 16); this is then followed by an exhaustive list of grape varieties (including early American varieties such as Catawba, Clinton, Concord, Delaware & Isabella) and a summary of Fuller's viticultural practices."