Kelham Wines

Kelham Vineyards is located on the midpoint of Zinfandel Lane just south of the town of St. Helena; as of 2025, visits are paused for the foreseeable future as the Kelham sign has been removed. This creative and intriguing family spent years developing what was the old Shadow Brook Winery into a beautiful estate. Shadow Brook was originally founded in 1984 (the first harvest) by restauranteur Emil Hoffman who purchased a house on Zinfandel Lane in 1972. He named the winery Shadow Brook in honor of a small creek that flows near the redwood trees on property.

Rawson (Rory), died in 2011, and Susanna Kelham purchased the property in 1997. Rawson used to own Kelham Construction. The first Kelham Wines were produced from the 1998 vintage, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot. At the time there were no vineyards planted on their Zinfandel Lane property; they planted vineyards and rather than outsource vineyard management duties, they employ their own vineyard team. The St. Helena estate is planted to just under 11 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon vines. The family has also owned a premium vineyard in Oakville since 1956; it is over 80 acres and is the source for their premium Cabernet Sauvignon wines. It borders what is arguably Napa valley’s most second famous vineyard after To Kalon, Martha’s Vineyard. And Rawson’s sister Alexandra married Robert Philipps, the same family that owns Vine Hill Ranch.

Total annual production is around 4,000 cases but they have a permit to make significantly more wine as well as an existing physical winery that could support a much larger production if they wanted. However, they prefer to focus on producing limited quantities of premium hand-crafted wines and have not grown significantly despite having the vineyards sources to do so. They continue to sell grapes to other area producers.

The family’s talents are clearly evident; Susanna has a background with interior design and has created an elegant standalone ‘artists’ salon with some of her own furnishings on display along with works from other artists including northern California based landscape artist Clark Mitchell. We used to host Clarke’s website in ‘another life’ for another business we used to run. Kelham Vineyards also sells a number of prints by the French artist Gerard Purvis; they are the only distributor of his work in the USA. Gerard is an internationally renowned contemporary artist who is best known for producing original sculptures & prints made from wine bottle foils.

There have been very few brothers working together to share wine making duties in Napa Valley; while no longer working together on winemaking, Ron Nicholsen and Hamilton Kelham worked together at Kelham Vineyards for many years. Both grew up in Napa Valley but neither have degrees in wine making. Ron has a degree in architecture from the University of Boulder and designed the art salon, the winery and the landscaping. Hamilton has a degree in hotel and restaurant management from when he studied in Switzerland; among his many contributions to the property is an impressive outdoor kitchen. Today, Ron is the sole proprietor of Kelham Wines, having since acquired the significant and entire inventory of library wines.

Select wines
Kelham produces highly age worthy premium wines with a focus on estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon. Unlike a softer, drink now style commonly made of this variety, the Kelham’s philosophy has been to make Cabernet Sauvignon that is extremely complex, bold and very high in tannins; these are wines that are meant to sit for 10 to 15 years before opening. As a result, it is these rarer and older wines that are their current release offering, often 10 to 15 years old. These “big wines” out of the gate certainly need additional aging time before reaching the consumer and tend to age as well as or better than any Napa Cabernet Sauvignon we’ve tried in this age window.

Whites
The 2015 Kelham Vineyards Chardonnay, Napa Valley is deep gold in color 10 years post vintage. The compelling and lightly tangy bouquet is still very much generous with its aromatics having transformed from fresh to aged. Its scents include honeycomb, dried apricots and nectarines, baked apples, bruised apples, peaches in light syrup, ripe Alphonso mango, layers of butterscotch, crème brûlée and vanilla and a lingering but light nutty character including of hazelnut and toasted almonds. This wine tastes like fully ripe pineapple, papaya, baked apples, a zing of citrus flavors including mandarin orange and a light note of vanilla creeping in on the finish. Its texture is creamy, dense and silky. This appreciable weight might drag down a lesser made Chardonnay, but the intensity of fruit and its bright acidity keeps that from happening. The finish is rich, layered and oh so persistent. Beautiful. And aging extremely well. If this wine was a performance vehicle, perhaps a model of Porsche 911, it comes fully loaded with every upgrade and add-on included.

The 2008 Kelham Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc reveals a spicy note complemented by pineapple aromas; the aromatics are bright and include honeysuckle and red apple. The wine is medium golden in color. On the palate there is an appreciable creaminess including a noticeable weight on the entry; however on the finish there is a surprising crisp and bright character. The palate is a balance between weight, acidity and flavor. This wine lingers with a subtle orange zest. For reference, the final Kelham Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc was produced in 2012.

Rosé
The Kelham Vineyards Napa Valley Rosé is a non-vintage wine made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The Cabernet Sauvignon was made as a standalone wine and aged in barrel for two years and then blended with the Chardonnay. This color is immediately noticeable, sporting a deep orange salmon hue. The bouquet shows aromas of wet cement, muddled strawberries, nectarine and a whisper of vanilla. There is a pleasing softness on the palate; it is creamy with some weight but this texture is supported firmly by its vibrant acidity. This rosé is refreshing. The finish is rich in flavor, yet clean, featuring notes of raspberry and orange.

Reds
Pinot Noir
The 2012 Kelham Vineyards Pinot Noir was a one-off wine produced as a result of a trade. Ron and Hamilton maintained a number of vineyard and wine making contacts; they traded out some Cabernet Sauvignon for this eastern Oakville grown Pinot Noir. It is extremely rare when we discover a Pinot Noir in Napa Valley grown north of Carneros, there are a couple of outlier blocks of this variety planted up valley if you know where to look. This is obviously not a cooler Russian River grown Pinot Noir; the initial aromas are spicy raspberry with a pepper component along with notes of blueberry. As the wine breathes, additional baking spice aromatics come forward. The palate is earthy and features darker denser fruit than we usually find in regional wines from cooler climates of this variety. It is a robust Pinot Noir, showcasing noticeable tannins and a density of fruit, especially on the finish.

Sangiovese
The 2015 Kelham Vineyards Sangiovese, Napa Valley is deep ruby in color; generous and an ‘open book’ on the bouquet, its scents include a union of both primary but softened fruits and tertiary aromatics from its time in bottle. For reference we needled and nosed this bottling 10 years post vintage. This wine smells like dark raspberries, dried cherries, blackberries, Santa Rosa plum, dark licorice, suede, coffee grinds, dark chocolate, toast, dried sage, sweet pipe tobacco and mocha. Minerally, with a vein of red fruits running the length of the palate, this wine tastes like red cherry, red plum, boysenberry, strawberries, dark raspberries and blackberries. The tannins are well tumbled and rounded at this age, and persist with a light dusty textural grip, a persistent earthy character and a tobacco spice. The fruit is still trending towards primary at this age on the palate, and probably will show this way for at least a few more years. Balanced, juicy and bright, this is very much a pizza and pasta friendly wine.

Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2012 Kelham Vineyards Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby in the glass and completely opaque; ten years after the vintage date at the time of our tasting the bouquet shows plenty of fruit including dark cherry, blackberry and boysenberry jam. There is a noticeable sweetness of the aromatics including notes of black licorice and cassis. As the wine evolves in the glass it offers some additional aromatics including of Graham cracker. This wine smells like a newer release. Shows a mix of berry and cherry fruits across the palate. Finishes juicy and mouthwatering with slightly dusty tannins of medium grip. Also lingers with some darker wood spices and peppercorn. The finish is savory. This bottling had just been released at the time of our tasting.

The 2003 Kelham Vineyards Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. Upon our first smell and taste of this beauty, the first question we asked is, “are you sure this is an 03′”? Sure, the color has changed to a more brickish red, but the aromas, flavors and structure are indicative of a much younger wine. This wine is certainly a testament to the power of Oakville fruit complemented by their wine making style. The bouquet is fragrant and inviting with notes of cigar smoke, dusty blackberries and an elegant, sweet vanilla note. This is a meaty cab with an inherent juiciness along with flavors of plum, dark cherry and chalky, chewy mouth drying tannins. This wine is perfectly paired with the provided Cambozola cheese (also available at your friendly Sunshine Market in St. Helena).

The 2002 Kelham Vineyards Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon shows a much different nose then its “younger brother”. The bouquet offers sweet aromas, blackberry, various baking spices, black licorice and a darker chocolate component. Despite being a year older then the 2003, the fruit seems livelier with great acidity. There is a pleasing mix between red and darker fruit on the palate. This wine is robust with significant tannins anchoring a very long finish. This wine drinks very well now, but still seems young at 14 years since the vintage date!

Merlot
The 2004 Kelham Vineyards Oakville Merlot reveals a wonderful diversity of aromas as the wine breathes. This wine has held up well – with notes of dark chocolate, a sage and herb component and a noticeable green olive or olive tapenade quality. On the palate there are flavors of black cherry and black olive. After 12 years, the fruit is still here but the tannins are even still more so. These mouth drying tannins linger for some time

Port-style
Kelham makes two port style wines, a white and a red. The White Port (made from Sauvignon Blanc) shows golden color in the glass. On the bouquet there are sweet notes of honey, floral notes, red apple, banana and a kiss of vanilla. This wine sits on the palate like velvet – with a nice balance between a delicate mouth feel and a richness of flavor. A slight coarseness of tannin or oak sits on the finish (we are extremely sensitive to this in dessert wines, but most people will never notice this). This is a delicious lighter style port that doesn’t have the over ripeness or viscosity of sometimes similar produced wines.

The Red Port is a 10-year-old tawny style revealing powerful aromas and intense fruit on the palate. This wine is dark red in the glass. There is a sweetness to the bouquet with baking spices including clove and aromas of caramelized sugars. Ripe plum is complemented with a spicy note on the finish (white pepper). Both fruit and alcohol linger for some time.

Hospitality
While no longer accepting visitors to the property for tastings, we keep these notes for historical reference. The estate combines a harmonious balance between functionality, hospitality, elegance and nature. Vineyards surround the winery and grounds. Tasting was hosted either indoors or outdoors under a shaded canopy. Guests facing north would often enjoy attractive views of Mt. St. Helena in the distance which rises near the town of Calistoga; for reference, Mt. St. Helena is the tallest mountain near Napa Valley.

Food was an integral part of a visit; every tasting for 1-4 people included a charcuterie plate with various cheeses and dried fruits. And the various meats and cheeses were an excellent accompaniment to their robust older wines. A four plated lunch was also able to be arranged and was catered by Tre Posti (since converted to Brindare Napa Valley) based in St. Helena (think Italy meets Napa Valley). Advance notice of about a week was recommended for the lunch. Of note is that a family member could always serve guests when visiting, either Susanna, Ron or Hamilton.

Several restored ‘grounded’ ski gondolas were located on site. Hamilton loves to ski and often goes with groups of friends to the slopes. As often the case with work and play, he takes business calls when on the slopes and sometimes even while in the gondolas. His friends started referring to the gondolas as his new office. Hamilton started to think about the idea of turning a gondola into a real office. A gondola is not necessarily a common consumer purchase. He spent 5+ years searching for the right ones before locating several in Whitefish, Montana.

He shipped them back to St. Helena and had them restored. One sits on the wooden deck outside of their tasting salon and has been turned into a mini office. Now when Hamilton wants a feel of the ski slopes in St. Helena, all he has to do is step inside this gondola and take a few phone calls. He is planning on turning one of the other gondolas into a mini sauna.

Kelham used to offer a very unique experience involving a digitally curated wine + bites experience with help from Pixar and Disney. The closest similar experience has been Le Petit Chef on one of the Celebrity Cruise ships.

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Nearly all of their wine is sold exclusively direct to consumer or through membership in their wine club called, The Vault with shipments during release either 6 or 12 bottles. For more information, to purchase wine or to join The Vault, visit: www.kelhamwines.com

Estate property

Oakville Vineyard