[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 120 (Wednesday, September 29, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNITION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF KUNDE ESTATE WINERY AND 
                               VINEYARDS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2004

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute 
to four generations of a remarkable farming and winemaking family that 
has been producing award-winning California wines for 100 years.
  Family patriarch Charles Louis Kunde immigrated to the United States 
from Germany in 1884, settling in Sonoma County, California. He grew 
Zinfandel grapes in Windsor for several years before acquiring the 
means to purchase the 650-acre Wildwood Ranch in Sonoma Valley in 1904. 
This site is the cornerstone of the family's current farming operation. 
Vines planted in 1882 on 28 acres of this initial purchase are still 
used to make the Kunde Century Vines Zinfandel.
  The Kunde family won the first of many wine awards, including a gold 
medal for their estate Zinfandel, in 1915 at the Panama Pacific 
Exposition in San Francisco, the most prestigious pre-prohibition wine 
event in the country.
  Arthur ``Big Boy'' Kunde took over operation of the winery and 
vineyards following his father's death in 1922. These were hard times 
for the family. Prohibition limited wine production to altar, 
sacramental and medicinal wines and the family had to diversify with a 
cattle ranching operation.
  The original winery closed for good when Big Boy's two sons, Fred and 
Bob, were serving our country in World War II. The rest of the family 
continued to grow grapes and raise cattle to save the land.
  After the war, the family continued to grow grapes and began to 
acquire land adjacent to their original ranch. Bob and Fred also began 
a meat cutting business on the ranch. They cut meat by night and 
planted vineyards by day.
  By the mid 1980s the family had acquired nearly 2,000 acres of 
contiguous land surrounding the original purchase. The vineyards 
stretched from the floor of the Sonoma Valley to the Mayacamas 
Mountains. It was now time to rebuild the winery and Kunde Estate 
Winery opened its doors in 1990.
  Today the winery produces 100,000 cases of wine annually. Ninety 
percent of the grapes are estate grown. There are 21 varietals and more 
than 100 clones grown on the estate property.
  A new generation of winemakers, managers and growers: Kurt, Bill, 
Jeff, Keith and Marcia, the children of Bob and Fred, are carrying on 
the family tradition of fine wine making.
  Mr. Speaker, the Kunde Estate Winery and Vineyards is celebrating its 
100th Anniversary this year and it is appropriate that we honor them 
today.

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