Picchetti Ranch and winery preserve remnants of Santa Clara Valley’s agricultural past. Vincenzo Picchetti immigrated from Italy in 1872 and worked as a foreman for a Jesuit winery at Villa Maria before he and his younger brother, Secundo, bought 60 acres on this ridge for $1,500 to establish their own vineyard. In 1882, the brothers began clearing land and built the homestead house, then completed the larger main house in 1886. They first sold grapes to local wineries, but in 1896 they built a winery and began producing their own wine. Over the following decades, they added buildings including a blacksmith shop that also served as a brandy distillery, a fermentation building, stables, and a washhouse. When Vincenzo died in 1904, he left the winery to his sons John and Antone, who guided the ranch through Prohibition after the Eighteenth Amendment banning the sale of alcohol passed in 1919. To sustain the ranch, they sold some vineyard acreage and replaced other vines with prune and apricot orchards, reflecting a broader regional shift. By 1933, when Prohibition ended, Santa Clara County had 6,500 acres of vineyards remaining, down from 8,000 acres in 1919. Winemaking continued in limited form during Prohibition because families could produce up to 200 gallons a year for private consumption, and with two Picchetti families living at the ranch, they could make 400 gallons annually. After Prohibition, new government standards and the growth of larger wineries made it hard for small growers to compete, and the Picchettis never resumed commercial wine production, though they continued making wine for family use until 1963. In later years, fruit orchards, livestock, and horse boarding became more important, and over four generations the Picchetti family made the ranch one of the region’s longest lasting family ranches. In 1976, the family sold 108 acres to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, creating Picchetti Ranch Open Space Preserve, and since 1982 the winery complex has been leased to private wineries while the preserve remains open for hiking and equestrian use.