Backroom Wines

Backroom Wines is located in downtown Napa next door to Chispa wine bar in a section of town known as the West End District. Parking is to the rear of the wine shop utilizing the small parking lot or parking can be found curbside on nearby streets. The rear of the shop has a doorway but this is not open to the public; use the small alleyway in between buildings to access the shop via the main entrance on 1st street.

Any shop that has Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison album playing (as it was one morning) when we walked in already has been raised up a notch in our eyes! Backroom Wines is a boutique wine shop with an excellent selection of wines focusing on primarily small producers with an emphasis on Napa Valley based producers but they also carry a fine selection of both domestic and international wines. The wines are laid out very nicely; the shop is clean and well organized.

Founder Dan Dawson first caught a whiff of the wine industry when he started working at a restaurant in Eureka California. That was followed by additional restaurant experience in Las Vegas, Nevada. He moved to Napa in the early 1990s and for a short while worked as the head sommelier at the French Laundry. Dan has enjoyed wine for many years along with a love of writing and communicating about wine with people.

Dan started Backroom Wines in 2002 and operated the original wine shop at 974 Franklin Street in downtown Napa until 2008 when he moved his operations to 1000 Main Street, less than a quarter mile from his original location. It was much larger than the old shop and arguably a bit more central.

For a number of years 974 Franklin was home to Trahan Wines and Prime Cellars. Prime Cellars vacated the space in early 2022 and Trahan left the space in the middle of 2022. In 2022, Dan became a partner in this space and the building located on the corner of First and Franklin Streets. He used his original Backroom Wines, 974 Franklin address for Outer Space Wines, a wine shop focusing on small production premium Napa bottlings along with select international wines and a small tasting bar offering samples of select wines on site for guests. In 2024 Dan sold Outer Space Wines to Thad and Emily Duprey. They continue to run this tiny shop and host special wine focused tastings on a weekly basis.

In May 2017 Dan sold Backroom Wines and its existing inventory to husband-and-wife Prashant and Felicia Patel. Dan remains in Napa Valley now focusing on his Dawson Wine Advisor website, newsletter and sub stack account. Prashant has lived in Napa Valley since the age of 2 and runs Invictus Marketing, a successful eCommerce and web design business with national accounts across a diversity of industries, but he also counts some local wineries as his clients.

Prashant’s father Ashok Patel immigrated to the U.S. in 1982 from a town near Mumbai, India. He and his wife Mina purchased a motel in Napa in 1987 and operated it as Discovery Inn, located at 500 Silverado Trail. It is still in business (15 rooms).

In 2024, Backroom Wines began planning on moving to a much larger space located at 1546 First Street in the West End part of downtown Napa. The Prashant’s own this building. We popped by one afternoon to check out the space and ended up helping Prashant’s father and and a friend move out old furniture. This space hosted a soft opening on Friday September 12, 2025.

The space has housed numerous businesses over the decades. Prior to this commercial building being constructed in 1976, a home used to sit on this site. In the 1980s and 1990s the building was home to Herritt’s Florist, a business that served as a bridal registry and also sold dinnerware and assorted gifts. Their ‘sidewalk days’ featured discounted items organized on the outside of the building on the sidewalk. And prior to the Patel’s ownership, the building housed Aldea and the Workforce Alliance of the North Bay. The building is 9,500 square feet including the first and second floors; Bluewater Day Spa is located on the second floor. It is named the Allen Ewig Building; Ewig was the executive director of Aldea Children and Family Services He died at age 63 in 2007. For many years the exterior was painted a moderate shade of pink; after the Patel’s purchased the building they painted the outside white.

Backroom Wines is the oldest wine shop in downtown Napa. Old timers may remember JV Wine & Spirits Warehouse, located on the southwest corner of 1st and the Silverado Trail just east of downtown. This was previously the oldest wine shop in Napa until they permanently closed in 2012 after a nearly 30 year run. The building is currently empty but the surrounding parking lot is used for overflow parking for events or when the Oxbow Public Market and Copia parking lots are full.

JV Wine & Spirits Warehouse had historical roots in Napa dating back to the 1940s. A gentleman by the name of Joseph Vallerga, for which JV took its name, opened Vallerga’s Market near the Silverado Trail on 1st Street. Business grew and in the ensuing years Joseph opened additional liquor stores. The original store was Vallerga’s Market until 1983 when it became the focal point and distribution center for their other stores. Fortunately management decided to open the warehouse to the public which served not only locals but also tourists coming to the valley. During the its time as a warehouse, no shelves existed in the store as boxes of wine were stacked everywhere.

—

Backroom Wines prides itself on customer service; Felicia and Prashant are often working the floor. They enjoy questions like, “what can you recommend” and will follow up with something like, “what types of wine do you like to drink” and then may ask some follow up questions before honing in on the best bottle and price point for what you are looking for. They offer a wide range of wine prices.

During our numerous visits over the years, primarily to purchase wines to add tasting notes to this site, we have often seen other winemakers or others who work in the wine industry shopping here. Unfortunately we were not here the day actor Bill Murray casually wandered in. And their customer service, plus selection is the reason we often see locals here. As of our latest update to this review they feature more than 800 wines from 14 different countries. But it is Napa Valley; their most carried variety is Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of the more recognizable brands you might find here including Eisele Vineyard, Hudson Vineyards, Kongsgaard, Pride Mountain and Smith Madrone. And one brand we personally introduced to the shop, KNA Wines made by winemaker Kristoff Anderson. But Backroom Wines is also a great place to find wines from small and lesser known Napa Valley brands.

In addition to the Napa and California wine selection, the store offers a variety of European wines with an additional focus on French wines – both whites and reds. Historically a number of small Napa based producers initially sold their wines here before they were “well known”. For example, Napa Valley wineries such as Paloma, Switchback Ridge and T-Vine Cellars initially sold their first releases at Backroom Wines. These wineries are now well established and have won a number of premium awards and high scores for their wines. Enjoy dessert wines? They carry a number of European wine “stickies”. And for those wanting a ‘taste’ they sell smaller 375ml bottles, and for those wanting to party, they carry a limited number of magnums. In addition to wine they offer fine selection of spirits.

A premium chilled wine room is located within a small space to the rear of the shop; this houses rare and collectible bottles.

Backroom Wines is open 7 days a week; several sit down high tops are used for those wanting to tasting wine – no appointments are needed. Special tastings are what separates this wine shop from some of the other local wine shops. Their “off the grid” tastings focus on small producers you typically won’t see outside of Napa Valley. Looking for an international perspective? Often Backroom chooses to highlight a specific international wine making region and focus on those wines.

In addition, they may host specific tastings in which small local area winemakers are on hand to taste their own wines; this is a great chance to actually meet someone in the Napa wine-making industry. Also popular is the “bring an interesting and good wine” night where you bring one or more of your favorite wines; this is a great chance to try an eclectic variety of wine. Aromatic and “guess the variety” tastings also sometimes offered. A varied collection of cheeses is also sold on site; ask which wine pairs with what cheese.

A house wine used to be offered for tasting at the bar. Often times winemakers will have additional barrels of premium wine that for whatever reason doesn’t fit into their wine portfolio – so they ‘bulk’ it off, often with a non disclosure agreement preventing the buyer from identifying the source.

Under Dawson’s ownership, Backroom Wines’ house wine was called Corsair; it was not related to the USB thumb drive in any way other than sharing the same name. This Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from one of Dan’s friends, a winemaker located in the northern part of Napa Valley. Corsair was produced in extremely small quantities; for example the 2008 bottling was only 150 cases and was only available at the store. As Dan originally told us, “As it turns out, college mascots make good names for wine labels”. Corsair referred to a French pirate, a WWII fighter plane, a computer memory company…and eventually a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

All events are scheduled well ahead of time, including their intimate “meet the makers” featuring winemakers from small brands. Check their website for details. Speaking of their website, it is often updated and is a treasure trove of information including their newsletter, featured wine section and the wine diary. Be sure to sign up for their mailing list as almost weekly you will find an email with a plethora of wine information; it is a great resource for the latest Napa wines to hit the market. This is the email list we subscribe to in order to discover latest releases and the newest commercial wine producers in the valley and beyond.

A number of wine club options are available, and all can be highly customized based on your preferences. Joining one of their clubs is an excellent opportunity to acquire wines from extremely small producers (most of which have no tasting rooms and very limited retail distribution). When you join you are asked about your wine preferences, budget, variety and wine interests – effectively creating the club around the types of wines you enjoy. For more information, or to purchased wines, visit: www.backroomwines.com

Previous location, Backroom Wines

Del Rio Wine & Spirits, Franklin TN
Conveniently Felicia helped run two family-owned wine and spirits shops in greater Nashville, Tennessee (where she is from) including Del Rio Wine & Spirits in Independence Square shopping center in Franklin (about a 30-minute drive south of downtown Nashville). Her family still owns both shops but as of our visit and latest update to this review, only Del Rio Wine & Spirits is open.

This store is much larger than one would expect from the outside – with an excellent selection of known Napa Valley based producers (especially a good selection of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon wines) as well as other domestic and international selections. And their selection encompasses a wide range of budgets from Franzia wines all the way to Opus One.

A great time to visit Franklin is in late April during the annual Main Street Festival, always held the fourth full weekend of the month. A number of streets are closed to traffic downtown, making way for more than 150 vendors selling everything from food and drink, to handicrafts, paintings and a diversity of art. Music is performed live on the main stage. Main Street attracts around 120,000 people a year.

During her time helping in the stores, she was responsible for selecting wines, tasting appointments and overseeing their day-to-day operations. She moved to Napa in 2013 and worked at govino (unbreakable stemware) for several years as a customer service manager. Today she is the face of Backroom Wines – overseeing the operations on site bringing an enthusiasm and attentiveness to visitors to the store. Several long-time employees also stayed on for the transition.