From the island to the plain Vintage grapes ripen in Historic Farm Park

Central Coast Farm & Ranch Magazine–Fall 2020

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MICHELE WILLER-ALLRED

In 1906, naturalist and writer Charles Frederick Holder visited a Santa Cruz Island ranch and was captivated by “the most charming and romantic” vineyard he’d seen in all of America.

“Here the vineyard stretched away in every direction, the vines trellised up in the European fashion,” wrote Holder for Outing magazine.

“One might sail by Santa Cruz a thousand times, even skirt its shores, and never suspect that over the hills and down deep in the valley, hidden away, was one of the famous vineyards of California.

”Almost 115 years later, Zinfandel wine grapes descended from that vineyard still grow in the Oxnard Historic Farm Park.

Inside the park, visitors can stroll the grounds filled with antique farm equipment and two of the oldest remaining structures on the Oxnard Plain, including a brick winery originally used to store wine for the historic Santa Clara Church.

In 1870, Oxnard pioneer Gottfried Maulhardt planted 250 grapevines of the “choicest variety” on land where a portion of the park sits.

Many farmers of that era grew Vitis vinifera, a European winegrape used for sacramental wine.

However, pests and disease plagued those early harvests, and growers switched to heartier crops.

Since that time, the farm changed hands.

But more than a century later, Jeffrey Maulhardt, a fifth-generation descendant of Oxnard pioneers, had a plan.

“I was able to get the developer to see the wisdom of saving the old buildings and create the Historic Farm Park on this site,” said Maulhardt, the park’s director.

Maulhardt helped set up the nonprofit Oxnard Historic Farm Park Foundation to preserve the site, which since has been declared a Ventura County historic landmark.

Roots in the old country

Bringing back the grapevines helps complete the circle, said Maulhardt, who acquired cuttings that originated from the Santa Cruz Island vineyard.

Genetic testing shows those Santa Cruz Island Zinfandels are related to a Croatian grapevine, also known as the Italian Primativo variety, and does well in this climate, said Annemiek Schilder, a plant pathologist with expertise in grape cultivation. Schilder also directs UC Cooperative Extension Ventura County and Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

Pierce’s disease is a limiting factor for grape production in Ventura County, but so far the Zinfandel cuttings at the farm park have been successful, said Schilder, who observes the vines in her role overseeing the Ventura County Master Gardener program.

Earlier this year, Schilder held a pruning party to teach participants the vines’ history and how to properly trellis the vintage plants.

In late July, the grapes were starting to turn from green to purple, marking veraison, or the onset of ripening. The grapes could be ready to crush for wine this fall.

“We want to impress on people as they come to the farm park that we have these historic grapes growing next to a historic winery,” Maulhardt said. “From there, we’d like to see if we could maybe bottle the wine as a fundraiser with our own label.”

In addition to grapevines, visitors also can see and learn about historic area crops, such as sugar beets, lima beans, barley and corn, tended by Master Gardener volunteers.

And there’s more to come. In May, cultural heritage officials gave the go-ahead for the restoration of the site’s 1870s farmhouse, one of the area’s oldest remaining homes.

Michele Willer-Allred is a Ventura County-based writer and a certified Master Gardener.