California wine country was started with Chinese workers
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Standing on a bridge over the Napa River, 77-year-old Ging Chan watches the sun-flecked water slide lazily around a muddy curve and thinks of a forgotten past.
"This was Chinatown," he says, waving a hand toward a scrubby patch of land that once hummed to the rhythm of hundreds of laborers, empty now save for a sprinkling of bright orange poppies.
The workers who lived here left their signature in pickax marks chiseled into the rocky bones of wine country. But few people know about the Chinese laborers who helped lay the foundations of California viticulture, planting vineyards, bridging creeks and digging caves.
"No one knows that we were so much a part of the fabric that established the industry in California," says San Francisco wine merchant Raymond Fong.
For those who discover Napa's secret past, the results can be fascinating.
"I was surprised to see how many worked on tunnels and planted vineyards," says Cherise Chen Moueix, who with her husband, winemaker Christian Moueix, is hosting a dinner at their Dominus Estate winery honoring the contribution of the Chinese—one of the lead-up events to next month's Napa wine auction.
"This was Chinatown," he says, waving a hand toward a scrubby patch of land that once hummed to the rhythm of hundreds of laborers, empty now save for a sprinkling of bright orange poppies.
The workers who lived here left their signature in pickax marks chiseled into the rocky bones of wine country. But few people know about the Chinese laborers who helped lay the foundations of California viticulture, planting vineyards, bridging creeks and digging caves.
"No one knows that we were so much a part of the fabric that established the industry in California," says San Francisco wine merchant Raymond Fong.
For those who discover Napa's secret past, the results can be fascinating.
"I was surprised to see how many worked on tunnels and planted vineyards," says Cherise Chen Moueix, who with her husband, winemaker Christian Moueix, is hosting a dinner at their Dominus Estate winery honoring the contribution of the Chinese—one of the lead-up events to next month's Napa wine auction.
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- groups:
- Wine, Wine Tasting
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- tags:
- Business, 2009, Employment, Wine, 3 more
