Concannon: The First One Hundred and Twenty-Five Years

by Jim Concannon, Tim Patterson, Andy Katz (Photographer)

CONCANNON VINEYARD had the makings of a great tale from the day Irish immigrant James Concannon founded it in 1883. A pioneering winery in the Livermore Valley – a region that put California on the world wine map – Concannon became of mainstay of the burgeoning California wine industry. The little powerhouse in Livermore developed the vineyards of Mexico at the turn of the 20th century, stayed open during Prohibition making sacramental wine, and introduced America’s first Petite Sirah in the 1960s. Alongside Martini, Sebastiani, Krug, Wente and a relative handful of other family-owned wineries, Concannon helped lay the foundation for the modern wine scene. And family is the heart of the story. The winery wasn’t a business the family owned; it was part of the family. Under James Concannon, his son “Captain” Joe, and his sons, Joe and Jim, family was the glue that kept things together through hard times and good times, breakthroughs and setbacks. What emerges in these pages is a warm, reflective, and very personal account by third-generation winemaker Jim Concannon, an Irish yarn-spinner in the grand tradition. Archival pictures and stunning new photography by Andy Katz bring Concannon Vineyard’s rich history and reinvigorated present to life – a story that been waiting to be told for 125 years.

80 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2006