Paul Masson

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For the Olympic competitor, see Paul Masson (cyclist).

Paul Masson (1859–1940) was an early pioneer of California viticulture and the most successful popularizer of Californian sparkling wine. He emigrated from the Burgundy region of France in 1878 to California, where he met Charles Lefranc, one of a number of French immigrants who had expanded the viticulture introduced into the Santa Clara Valley by the Catholic mission fathers. He went back to France in 1880 but returned to California due to the depression in the French wine industry caused by the Phylloxera plague.

According to the Paul Masson company Web site, in 1892 Masson's first champagne was introduced at Almaden, and Masson eventually became known as the "Champagne King of California." His brand can be remembered popularly for its 1970s marketing association with Orson Welles, who promised for Masson, "We will sell no wine before its time."

Masson shifted part of his production to the Santa Cruz Mountains above Saratoga, California, and built his "chateau" on a knob overlooking the Santa Clara Valley in 1905. Now known as "The Mountain Winery", the Paul Masson Mountain Winery is on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. Events are held at the winery, such as concert series, special events and weddings.

The Paul Masson brand is now a division of the Canandaigua Wine Company, which is in turn owned by Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B)