Red Mountain Wine

by Diane Schell

The Famous Red Mountain Vineyard, famous for its fine wines and brandy, was founded when Abraham Schell (1817-92) partnered with George H. Kraus (1825-68), a German viticulturist who had started planting vines in Stanislaus County, California. Kraus died shortly after and Abraham became the sole owner. He was a banker and lawyer and served as a state Viticultural Commissioner along with Agoston Harazsthy. 

Abrahams nephew Herrick Schell (my Great-Grandfather), came across the Isthmus of Panama from NY to help with the vineyards and ranch. They planted 10,000 imported vines in 1865 and blasted a long wine cave into solid rock.

Quality and purity were of the utmost importance to Abraham and Herrick in building their brand and reputation.

Red Mountain Vineyard was the biggest exporter of wine on the west coast during the mid 1800 and early 1900‘s. Later, the Gallo brothers took the Red Mountain name for one of their wines. “There was a Red Mountain winery up above Oakdale. We did not own it. They closed during Prohibition. We just used the name” (E.Gallo interview with Modesto Bee).

Thus, the famous name and reputation of Red Mountain, so carefully built up to represent ‘fine wine of superior quality’ was later used for cheap jug wine.

In 2012 we were very excited to find a family diary from 1865 (below) and opened it to a page that describes the earliest beginnings of this once great winery on the very date the partnership with Kraus was formed (Dec. 5th 1865). It describes plowing the fields with horses and ordering the vines

(see below). 

A newspaper article about Red Mountain Winery can be found here

The existing historical marker on Schell Rd can be found here.

A history of Stanislaus County, CA  and how Abraham Schell came to California click here.

What the Knights Ferry area is like today.

A GunStock Table designed in honor of Herrick R. Schell here

More below.