The company was founded by Jacob Gundlach in 1858.
Charles Bundschu, from
Mannheim,
Germany, joined the company in 1868, and became part of the family when he married Jacob Gundlach’s daughter Francisca in 1875. J. Gundlach & Co. grew significantly over the next 30 years, distributing
Rhine wines from its factory at the corner of Second Street and Bryant Street in what is now the
Soma District in
San Francisco, California and its headquarters nearby on
Market Street at Second. There was a New York branch as well. After Jacob’s death in 1894, the company was renamed Gundlach Bundschu. By the time of the
great earthquake of 1906 the company was a major international wine producer, distributing over 250,000 cases of mostly
fortified wine per year. The winery never regained its earlier stature as a major producer of bulk wine. Instead the company regrouped and moved operations to its vineyards in Sonoma County. The company suffered another setback during
Prohibition, when alcohol was made illegal in the United States. Unable to sell wine, the company sold grapes to other wineries for sacramental wine use and raised cattle instead under Towle Bundschu, the grandson of the founder. Walter, of the fourth generation of Bundschus, planted more grapes after the repeal of Prohibition, but the company did not begin producing wine again until the early 1970s. Gundlach Bundschu has hosted the Huichica Festival, and have partnered with music promoter (((folkYEAH))). ==Winery and estate==