Jean-Louis Vignes

Who was Jean-Louis Vignes?

Jean-Louis Vignes, or as he was known to his Mexican neighbors, "Don Luis del Aliso", was a French settler to the Los Angeles area during the Mexican era. He was the first commercial wine maker in California and one of the first men to import and plant European Vitis vinifera grapes in the state. A skilled cooper by trade and an adventurer and entrepreneur by choice, he arrived in the Sandwich Islands on July 6, 1827. After losing his business in Honolulu, he sailed to California and landed at Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1831. In 1850, Vignes was the largest wine producer in California.