Rancho Huichica was a 18,704-acre (75.69 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Napa County, California given in 1841 to Jacob P.
[4] [5] With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored.
Simonton became the first to experiment scientifically, under the direction of Missouri viticulturist George Husmann, to find Phylloxera-resistant rootstock.
Jacob Gundlach, the son of a Bavarian hotel keeper, came to California in 1850 at age 33, lured by the promise of gold.
Around 1857 Gundlach and Dresel purchased 400 acres (1.6 km2) of Rancho Huichica, named it Rhinefarm, and turned to winemaking.