After 200 years, the vines that produced Hawaii’s first wine grapes are back and under the care of a nun with a green thumb

Story and photos by Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Marin’s grapes Don Francisco de Paula Marin is largely forgotten today but in the early 1800s he was a respected friend of Kamehameha I with a good deal of property and, of course, that luscious vineyard. In the combined book “Don Francisco de Paula Marin: A Biography” by Ross H. Gast and “The Letters and Journal of Francisco de Paula Marin” edited by Agnes C. Conrad, various accounts of Marin’s vineyard are included. Don Jose de Ortega of California wrote to Marin on May 25, 1814, “I am glad that the grape runners have taken root and that they give you clusters like those of the promised land.” Marin’s first vine planting, according to Gast, was likely on his harbor front property, and his second, larger vineyard the one near today’s Vineyard Boulevard. In an April 18, 1828, letter Sacred Hearts Father Abraham Armand, who with Father Alexis Bachelot and Father Patrick Short were the first Catholic priests in Hawaii, said of Marin, “Every year he has two harvest of grapes, one in October and another in April … I planted last year in our small garden about 100 vines and at the end of December I counted more than 10 bunches of grapes.” It wasn’t always easy having a vineyard. In his April 17, 1815, journal entry under the heading “Trespass,” Marin wrote, “This day I went to walk in my garden and I found great havoc in the vines committed by Captain Guynships hogs.” Future entries told of theft of the vines, despite the fact that Marin may have gotten King Kamehameha I to put a kapu, or ban, on stealing from his vineyard.

In a corner of the Lychee Garden at St. Francis Convent in Manoa, leafy, green grape vines are flourishing atop several plastic, latticework fences.

What makes these vines unique is that they come from cuttings taken from the same California Mission grape variety of vines brought to Hawaii some 200 years ago by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, one of the islands’ earliest Catholic immigrants.

Marin was known in the early 1800s for his thriving vineyard in Honolulu located between River and Maunakea Streets, where Borthwick Mortuary stands today, across from Foster Botanical Gardens. Vineyard Boulevard is named after Marin’s agricultural enterprise from which wine and brandy were produced.

A few years ago, local horticulture enthusiast Scott Truesdell (a descendent of Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii) became interested in finding the best variety of grapes to plant at his home in Honolulu near Vineyard Boulevard. He remembered reading about Marin’s vineyard and decided to trace what grape variety the Spaniard had grown.

After extensive research, Truesdell concluded that Marin’s vines came from California’s Mission grapes, descendants of the original cultivated vines brought by missionaries from Spain. He found a few acres of Mission grape vines in a small vineyard between Santa Barbara and La Purisima Missions in California, and about two years ago, received a gift of several dry cuttings. He planted some in his yard and gave some to Foster Botanical Gardens.

He also gave three rooted and growing vines to Sister of St. Francis Olivia Gibson, who knew his family and had traveled by train to Hawaii as a young nun with his great-great aunt, Sister Elizabeth Gomes, shortly before she died.

Sister Olivia turned to fellow Sister of St. Francis Joan of Arc Souza, who has a green thumb, to take care of the vines.

Sister Joan of Arc, the principal of St. Francis School, learned to garden from her father and now as a hobby takes care of many of the trees and plants growing on the convent property.

“When you’re a principal, you need something to do that’s different than running a school,” she said.

“I’ve never grown grapes before,” she added, but she quickly found a perfect corner in the convent’s Lychee Garden.

She rigged up a sprinkler system for the vines and at least once a week, she said, “I come out and play around and talk to the vines,” occasionally adding fertilizer.

The vines have grown so much since they were planted that Sister Joan of Arc had to add more latticework fencing to support them. Truesdell said the sisters’ Mission grape vines are growing better than his.

It takes a few years after planting for grapes to appear, so the first bunches may show up this fall. The 24 sisters at St. Francis Convent are eagerly awaiting their arrival, according to Sister Olivia, who thinks it’d be nice to eventually have a grape arbor in the garden and maybe even make some wine.

Sister Joan of Arc’s expectations were a bit more pragmatic.

“The rule is that the first bunch has to have at least 24 grapes [one for each sister]. Or there’s going to be war,” she joked.