Chateau Chevalier
The winery building was completed in 1891, the year Fortune Chevalier turned 76.
His son, George was well involved in the business at this time and appears to have been in charge of the winery operation. About 40 acres of grapes were eventually planted.
The roads were lined with olive trees and extensive gardens were constructed. The gardens had complex paths along terraces, pools for swimming, and many stone stairways,
sometimes leading no where in particular, contributing to an exotic ambiance.
Fortune Chevalier died in April, 1899, at the age of 84. The winery continued to operate, but the plague of Phylloxera began to beset California; and if that wasn’t
enough, there was the gradual onset of Prohibition as more and more counties and regions became “dry.” George Chevalier sold the winery and ranch to San Franciscan John
A. Grennan. The winery then changed hands several times before Berkeley oilman H.H. Hart purchased it in 1918.
The property became known as “Harthaven” and the owners had no desire to make wine. The vineyard home, pictured right, burnt to the ground in 1936. The vineyards
continued to be tended and the grapes sold to local wineries. It remained a quiet country retreat until the second wine boom that began in the late 1960’s. |
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