The Cline family name has been associated with Contra Costa viticulture and winemaking for over three decades. The extended family’s connection to the Antioch/Oakley area reaches back to the early 1900s.
Trivia: Valeriano Jacuzzi’s family grew Carignan grapes on their 120-acre farm in Antioch. The vines had to be uprooted in the early 1940s due to disease.
Old Cline Cellars website
“History of Cline Cellars” (1995?)
"After spending his childhood summers learning farming and winemaking from his grandfather, Valeriano Jacuzzi (of the pump and spa fame), Fred Cline founded Cline Cellars in 1982, in Oakley, California. Fred started the winery with the $12,000 inheritance from the sale of Jacuzzi Bros. In 1986, Fred’s brother Matt joined Cline Cellars as winemaker after studying winemaking at the University of California at Davis. In 1991, the winery facilities relocated to the Sonoma Valley on a 350 acre estate in the Carneros District.
“The Cline Brothers, Fred and Matt, are Zinfandel and Rhône varietal specialists. Their holdings include some of the oldest and rarest vines in California. They are best known for the one hundred year old plantings of Carignane, Mourvedre and Zinfandel grapes they farm in Oakley, California. The Mourvedre represent approximately 85% of the state’s total supply of this fascinating and versatile varietal. This treasure is the inspiration for Cline Cellars many ‘Rhone style’ bottlings.” - Old Winery Profile from Rhône Rangers
The Jacuzzi brothers invented the “toothpick propeller” for aircraft after WWI. Their patented jet pump for filtering wine found great acclaim when repurposed to provide a different source of comfort. A pump was submerged into a tub of hot water to offer relief for one family member suffering Rheumatoid Arthritis. The design eventually gave rise to the commercially successful Jacuzzi whirlpool tubs.
Today, the City of Antioch is dedicating a new park to the memory Matt and Fred Cline’s maternal grandparents. The Valeriano and Guiseppina Jacuzzi Knolls Open Space and Park Ridge subdivision will occupy 25 acres. 525 homes will be built around the park.
Fred Cline established Cline Cellars in 1982 after purchasing the old Firpo Winery and some vineyard acreage in Oakley. The venture was funded by Fred’s $10,000 inheritance from his maternal grandfather Valeriano Jacuzzi.
Younger brother Matt joined the company in 1985-6 after graduating UC Davis. Their winery played a major role in familiarizing the wine-drinking public with the old vineyards of Contra Costa County.
In 1991, Fred and his wife Nancy moved the winemaking facilities to Sonoma County. A new vineyard was planted to Burgundy and Rhône grape varieties, now farmed according to “Green String” principles. Jacuzzi Family Vineyards was created in 1997 in honor of the Valeriano, bottling several Italian-style wines.
In 2001, Matt left Cline Cellars and founded Trinitas with his wife Erin. Three Wine Company was started by Matt and Erin in 2006 after selling Trinitas. The first wine was released for sale in 2008.
Recently, each company launched new wines composed of old-vine grapes:
Cline Cellars 2019 “Tribute: Delta Sands” Zinfandel
“Our Tribute Delta Sands Zinfandel highlights the defining characteristic of Contra Costa County. The sandy deposits that make up the soils of our dry-farmed zinfandel vineyards in Oakley are the key to this growing region. When the sun reflects on these delta sands our grapes can ripen early and consistently, creating elegant wines that showcase power and grace simultaneously. The sands also allow the roots of these vines to dig nearly 40 feet deep in search of water, the final wine is richly concentrated with ripe boysenberry, caramel, and cooking spice and finishes with luscious tannins, a hint of bright raspberry, and perfect balance.”
Budwood 2019 “Ancient Vines”, Own-Rooted Contra Costa Red Wine
“At the turn of the 20th century, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese immigrants, first drawn to California with the promise of the Gold Rush, had settled west of the gold fields, near the current city of Oakley, a few miles from the San Francisco Bay. As the reality set in that agriculture rather than gold mining was the key to their future, they travelled further west to the Sonoma Valley to collect the budwood that they would eventually plant in the sandy soils of their new home of Contra Costa County.”
"Little did they know that the phylloxera bug that would eventually wipe out most of the world’s vineyards, requiring any new vines to be grafted on bug resistant wild American grape root stock, couldn’t survive in the arid sands of Contra Costa. This has left these ancient vines of Carignane, Mataro, Zin and Alicante Bouschet as not only some of the oldest in the world but also some of the only ones with their own roots!
“Winemaker Matt Cline has always been drawn to these American heirloom vines starting in the mid-80s when he and his brother Fred founded Cline Cellars on the ability of these ancient vines of Oakley to produce massive concentration yet with silken texture and snappy vibrancy. This allegiance carried through his time with Cline Cellars and now with Three Wine Company. His latest venture honors the pioneers of this valley whose budwood fostered vineyards that still produce incredible wine, 136 years later.”
Cline Cellars website:
https://clinecellars.com/
Three Wine Company website:
https://threewinecompany.com/
Old Cline Cellars website:
http://www.sonic.net/~epcline/oldsite/index.html
East Bay Times
" Ingenuity Bubbles Over in Jacuzzi Family"
by Marton Dunai
April 16, 2007
Arkansas Democrat Gazette
“Remo Cesare Jacuzzi”
by Helaine Williams
August 5, 2007
by-line: “Necessity was the mother of invention of the first Jacuzzi whirlpool. Now Remo Jacuzzi’s Jason International takes the bath into the realm of fine therapeutic bathing.”
Google Books
Spirit, Wind, and Water
by Remo Jacuzzi
Welcome Rain Publishers, 2007
