Paul Masson - San Jose, CA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 37° 20.106 W 121° 53.576
10S E 598070 N 4132621
This memorial is located on an arch at San Jose's San Pedro Square.
Waymark Code: WMPR1H
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 10/10/2015
Views: 1
The arch has several prominent people memorialized. This one honors Paul Masson and has a depiction of him and the text:
"Paul Masson
Father of'California Wine Industry"
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Paul Masson (1859 – 1940) was an early pioneer of California viticulture and successful popularizer of Californian sparkling wine.
Biography[edit]
Masson emigrated from the Burgundy region of France in 1878 to California, United States, where he met Charles Lefranc, one of a number of French immigrants who had expanded the viticulture introduced into the Santa Clara Valley by the Catholic mission fathers. Masson went back to France in 1880, but later returned to California due to the depression in the French wine industry caused by the Phylloxera plague. According to the Paul Masson company web site, in 1892 Masson's first sparkling wine under the name "champagne" was introduced at Almaden, and Masson eventually became known as the "Champagne King of California". Masson is buried at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose.
Winery
Masson shifted part of his production to the Santa Cruz Mountains above Saratoga, California and built his "chateau" on a knob overlooking the Santa Clara Valley in 1905. Now known as "The Mountain Winery", the Paul Masson Mountain Winery is on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. Various events are held at the winery, such as concert series, weddings, and other special events. A famous chess tournament was held there annually for a number of years in the late 1970s and early 1980s."