San Gabriel Mission will dedicate its historic Original Wine Grape Vineyard Project on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 4:45 p.m. in mission’s gardens at 427 S. Junipero Serra Dr., San Gabriel, CA 91776. San Gabriel Mission started the original wine vineyards of the missions in California and supplied many missions with wine in the early mission era.
Like the historic orange tree grove in mission’s gardens that came from the original trees and is the first original orange tree grove at the mission in decades, this is the first working original wine grape vineyard at the mission in decades!
There is a sign with lots of valuable information about our vineyard. Local wine consultant Arthur Przebinda and San Gabriel Mission Marketing Director Chuck Lyons are co-directing this project, along with help from University of California at Davis for DNA testing mission’s original wine grape vines from which the new vines are propagated. The mission is thankful to Carlos Galeazzi and John Zago for building and donating new sign holders in mission’s gardens in the past few years.
After the brief vineyard dedication and blessing at 4:45 p.m., there will be time to walk to the old mission cemetery a few feet away for a brief prayer service at 5:30 p.m. for Claretians, Gabrieleno Indians and other people buried in the cemetery as part of San Gabriel Mission’s Seventh Annual Candles for Claretians event! Candles can be purchased in mission’s gift shop in advance and that day until 5:30 p.m. and will be lit on Oct. 23, so the three-day candles are lit the whole day on Oct. 24, St. Anthony Mary Claret Feast Day. St. Claret’s clergy order is the Claretian Missionaries who serve world wide and have served at San Gabriel Mission since February 1908.
Admission to both events is free. Entrance will be at San Gabriel Mission Museum and Gift Shop entrance, 427 S. Junipero Serra Dr., San Gabriel. More information is available at 626-457-3035, extension 249.
