The Malaguerra Winery stands as the primary objective for anyone seeking Santa Clara County's oldest surviving wine structure. It was forged from Coyote Creek basalt rubblestone and erected in 1869 for a Swiss immigrant named José María Malaguerra. This man clearly mastered the art of logistics, constructing a two-story command post with white stucco walls. The base is strategically positioned on the eastern perimeter of the Santa Clara Valley at the feet of the Diablo Range.
Back in 1861, the joint command of Malaguerra and his wife Alvina seized 200 acres of Rancho Refugio de la Laguna Seca. Throughout the 1860s, they managed a chaotic theater of operations involving 11 children, vineyards, tomatoes, and a hog unit. If you want to see the real heavy lifting, head to the northwest section of the winery. That area functioned as a curing bay where salami and homemade sausages hung from the rafters like pieces of tactical gear.
Architectural intelligence dictated that the winery skip an interior staircase because the neighboring barn was positioned on a slope. To breach the basement, you must navigate a double wooden door on the west side. This subterranean bunker is a single room supported by four wooden posts. You can enter the main floor through a modern stuccoed frame on the south side, which is a total chronological mismatch but it keeps the mission moving.
The operation faced a strategic setback in 1898 during a national economic collapse but managed a successful extraction at the turn of the 20th century. The County of Santa Clara took over supervision of the property in 1971. Currently, the Friends of the Winemakers hold the lease with the objective of transforming the site into a wine museum featuring historically accurate grape varieties.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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