New Clairvaux's Blessing of the Grapes welcomes hundreds of guests

Jul. 28—The Blessing of the Grapes at the Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux in Vina is a very unique experience to behold. Ripe with sacred rites and ritual, the blessing each year welcomes the harvest of the abbey's winemaking grapes.

What started as a simple ceremony at the Abbey on Seventh Street attended by few, has turned into an event that welcomes hundreds of people from all across the country.

On Saturday July 23, the Abbey's 16th annual Blessing of the Grapes took place under a canopy of trees, and with the vineyard as a backdrop an overflow of guests reverently watched as black and white robed Trappist-Cistercian monks, led by a simple wooden cross, formed a procession from the chapel, singing ancient chants as the walked to the vineyard.

"This is a blessed day. Each year, I am amazed at the number of people coming to join un in the ceremony," said Abbott Father Paul Mark Schwan..

The vineyard's winemaker, Aimée Sunseri, welcomed the crowd and Abbot Schwan conducted the centuries-old European tradition of blessing the grapes for a successful harvest and winemaking season.

Schwan led the blessing and words of thanksgiving offering eucharistic sacrifice and in the "praise of God sung throughout the day."

His blessing was joined by the monks reading from the bible and singing holy words, a prayer of thanks for the spiritual and temporal harvest provided by the Lord.

The Abbot finalized the ceremony by the sprinkling of holy water to bless the vineyard, this year's harvest and all those present.

"Let us bless God," he said in closing. "Forever let us praise and extol the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

Each guest, who was presented with a booklet outlining the words and songs of the ceremony, was welcomed to join in the sacred blessing.

They were then encouraged to take a tour of the winery, ancient chapel, sample complimentary wines, enjoy local and monastic goods, as well as select from several food vendors after the ceremony.

The Blessing of the Grapes first happened in the seventh century at a Benedictive monastery called Monte Casino in Italy, and in what was to become the state of California in 1807 at the Mission San Gabriel.

"This event is about ancient traditions being continued and celebrated," fifth-generation winemaker Sunseri said. "Including monastic and local goods in our marketplace makes this event extra special."

New Clairvaux Vineyard is a partnership between the Monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux and the Sunseri wine family.

They are the first Trappist-Cistercian Monastery in the Americas to grow, make and bottle its own wine. The winery is situated on what was once Leland Stanford's Great Vina Ranch, the largest winery in the world in the 1890s.

In 2000 the monks decided to return to the land's historic viticulture and winemaking roots. The vineyard produced the first New Clairvaux Vineyard wines in 2003.

The winery, whose production and acreage has increased fourfold since 2000, continues to win top awards in several leading national and international wine competitions. The partnership is pioneers in grape growing, being the first to grow two Greek varieties, Assyrtiko and Moschofilero in the United States.

New Clairvaux Vineyard winery's tasting room is open daily, except for Holy Days. For more information visit www.newclairvauxvineyard.com for more information.

Monastery's origins

The property, known as Rancho Bosquejo, was owned early on by Peter Lassen through a land grant in 1844.

"He went to San Gabriel and brought back grapes and plants a vineyard," Schwan said.

He lost it to his business partner Henry Gerke in 1852. Gerke expanded the vineyard, producing white wine and marketing it in San Francisco and even in Europe.

"He builds quite a reputation," Schwan added.

In 1881, Leland Stanford was in the area working on the railroad and purchased the property.

He continued to expand the vineyards which eventually covered 3,800 acres. Leland also built the red-brick building which today houses New Clairvaux's winery.

Due to a lack of today's technology, Leland's extensive vineyard proved unsuccessful as he was not able to pick the process the grapes in a timely manner and a reputation for bad wine was created amongst the wine industry, said Schwan.

"When the grapes are ready to be picked for the best quality wine, you have to pick now," he added. "You can't wait until tomorrow, or next week, it is now. You have a very short window if you are going to maintain quality. Well, they couldn't. Unfortunately, that gave the Vina area a bad reputation in the wine industry. It was a disaster."

Over time, the ranch was sold off piece-by-piece, a large section of it eventually becoming what is known today as New Clairvaux.

The Abbey itself came about when Dom James Fox, the Abbot of Abbey of Gethsemani, in Kentucky, visited California in the early 1950s in search of a new site for a new monastery.

The new order purchased 590 acres of Leland Stanford's old ranch from then-owner Bernard Flynn.

On July 2, 1955, Fox arrived at the newly founded monastery of New Clairvaux with 26 monks from Gethsemani, and the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place.

Much has happened since then.

Most people wouldn't think the modest men in black and white robes would be progressive, but they have been from the very beginning.

The monastery has gone from dairy farming and growing orchard crops, back to the land's historical roots of being a successful vineyard.

"Here we are today proving the experts wrong," Schwan said. "We have gradually been expanding from 6 acres up to 12 now and by the time we finish planting we will be close to 15 planted this year."

He said the New Clairvaux now has a wonderful reputation among the wine industry.

"We are regularly creating award winning wines," Schwan stated. "We enter big competitions and our wines consistently win, especially with our whites, they win gold very often."

The Abbot explained part of the reason for the vineyard's success is terroir, a French word the 13th century Cistercians monks developed in relation to the wine industry.

"It means the relationship between the earth, soil and growing. It is very close to our approach to life, our philosophy, simplicity with the earth," Schwan said.

Monastic life

Monastic life is uncomplicated, everything purposely and consciously designed to bring the monks' lives into life-transforming contact with God.

Each brother's life is one of devotion to Jesus and his mother, Mary, God-directed simplicity, prayer, and brotherhood.

Mass is the center of their life everyday. Several times a day the monks gather in the Abbey Church to sing the divine praise of God. That common prayer together provides the structure and framework of their lives. They also have the time and space to devote ourselves to personal prayer."

Monks leave the "world" behind so to speak, as do guests, when the walk through the monastery's doors and enter the beautiful, peaceful grounds.

In this sacred place the monks reject all that is extravagant or superfluous, forming a family, a brotherhood supporting and serving one another on their mutual journey toward eternal life.

The brothers join daily in meals, work and worship. There lives are "one" so to speak, although each has an individual job or responsibility, each job is to fulfill the overall purpose of the monastery.

It is also a life of discipline. The monks life is based on the St. Benedictine tradition of three pillars — manual labor, being self-supporting. having personal prayer time, which includes meditation, reading and studying scripture and related sciences.