September 4

September 4, 1781: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles — the Spanish settlement that grew into Los Angeles — was founded. Over the following decades the city became the heart of California’s early commercial wine industry: in the 1830s the French émigré Jean-Louis Vignes planted his El Aliso vineyard beside the Los Angeles River, was among the first to bring European vinifera vines to California, and became one of the first to produce and ship California wine commercially — earning recognition as a father of California viticulture.

For more dates in wine history, click here.

Hero image: Unknown authorUnknown author / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.