Pleasant Valley Wine Company records

The Hammondsport and Pleasant Valley Wine Company was established on March 15, 1860 by Charles Davenport Champlin and twelve area businessmen. The company was designated as Bonded Winery No.1 in its state and federal districts. In 1865 Joseph Masson became the wine-maker and around this time the production of sparkling wine was initiated. This wine, which was marketed under the brand name Great Western, became the first American sparkling wine to win an award in Europe. The awards included first prizes in Vienna, 1873; Paris 1889; Brussels, 1897; Paris, 1900; and Brussels in 1910. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the company had many prestigious personal and business accounts. Between 1872 and 1875, Charles Champlin and his associates built the nine-mile Bath to Hammondsport Railroad in order to compete with canal transportation.

The enactment of the 18th Amendment in 1919 led to the demise of many companies involved in wine production. Pleasant Valley managed to survive the fourteen years of Prohibition through the sale of wine for sacramental and medicinal purposes. The company was reorganized after repeal and successfully returned to full production. During this period the Champlin families and their associates controlled about 40 percent of company stock. After the death of Charles D. Champlin in 1950 there were three successive presidents from the Board of Directors. In 1955 the controlling interest was purchased by a group of businessmen from Pittsburgh and marketed under the Great Western Producers Inc. label. In 1962 the Taylor Wine Company acquired Great Western and under the directorship of Greyton Taylor returned to the Pleasant Valley Wine Company label. In the 1980s a consortium of Seagrams, Coca Cola and Canandaigua Wine Company purchased the winery and moved wine production from the original plant. The buildings lay empty for a few years. In 1996 Michael Doyle bought the original winery from Mercury Aircraft of Hammondsport and resumed wine production under the Pleasant Valley Wine Company name.