La Jota Vineyard Co is an old ghost winery built in 1898 from a white ash rock quarried from the property. This is one of the more historical parts of Napa Valley; the first Euro-American permanent settler in Napa Valley was George C Yount (namesake for Yountville) who moved to the valley in 1836. In 1843, Mr. Yount was given a roughly square shaped … [Read more...]

Lamborn Family Vineyards was located high on Howell Mountain on a "ridge peninsula" which overlooks Pope Valley to the east and on an extremely clear winter's day one can even see parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains far in the distance, which is one of several locations on Howell Mountain and on Atlas Peak where one has such views. Note: The Lamborn … [Read more...]

Lang & Reed Wine Company was founded by husband and wife John and Tracey Skupny with their first vintage in 1996 and is named after their two sons, Reed and Jerzy Lang reflecting family names; Reed from John's maternal side of the family and Lang from Tracey's maternal side of her family. John (who we originally met with for this review years ago) has a long … [Read more...]

Larkmead Vineyards is a winery one doesn't often hear about even though the wines are excellent and they have a long history of producing wine in Napa Valley. In fact, before Prohibition, they were considered one of the four great wineries in Napa Valley along with Beaulieu Vineyard (BV), Inglenook and Beringer. To understand Larkmead one must begin with its … [Read more...]

Levendi Winery is owned by the Gianulias family; they have a centuries long tradition of making wine in Greece. We first reached out to them many years ago and met at Laird Family Winery where they were making their wine at that time. James Gianulias has built a lengthy and very successful career in property development. G Companies, still family run, with … [Read more...]

Lokoya Winery (established in 1995) by Jackson Family Wines, specializes in premium small lot wines (100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon) exclusively from Napa grown fruit from select mountain appellations. Founder, Jess Jackson wanted to create a wine that showcased some of the best mountain vineyards in Napa Valley. He began acquiring specific properties in … [Read more...]

Long Meadow Ranch Winery or LMR for short, is nestled in Napa's western Mayacamas mountains - a relatively short drive from the floor of Napa Valley yet with a feel to the property that seems worlds away from the often congested Highway 29. Parts of the property were originally developed for agriculture in the 1870s. Ted and Laddie Hall acquired the property … [Read more...]

Louis M. Martini Winery was established when Louis M. Martini purchased property south of St. Helena on June 14, 1933. Louis M. Martini was born in 1887 in the Italian Riviera (Pietra Ligure) - not far from several other Napa Valley vintners whose roots reach back to this part of Italy. We have visited Pietra Ligure although the cemetery had already closed … [Read more...]

OVID Napa Valley was founded by husband and wife Mark Nelson and Dana Johnson with their inaugural vintage in 2005. The name Ovid was the name of the software company Mark founded in the late 1980s, Ovid Technologies - based in New York. His software business was highly successful and became an important platform for cataloging and searching medical records … [Read more...]