Alchemists of the Vine

California’s grape growers discovered a gold mine in distilling aged brandy. Until the mid-1800s mission grapes were the primary wine-making grape in California. As time progressed, mission grapes were used for brandy, table wine and Angelica, which was a fortified wine. A few 19th-century wine makers experimented with brandy.   Beginning in the 1880s, Bohemian brothers Joseph and Francis Korbel made their greatest fortun