Saintsbury Winery was founded by Richard Ward (died in 2017), and David Graves in 1981. Graves was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Graves ran for 1st District Napa County Board of Supervisors in 2022. The winery continues to be family owned and operated. Both Graves and Ward met during their graduate studies in Enology at UC Davis while taking … [Read more...]

Salvestrin Winery is located off of Main Street (Highway 29) slightly south of the town of St. Helena, bordering the historic St. Helena High School grounds. Remarkably, this site has been farmed to grape vines since 1859, one of the oldest continuously farmed vineyard sites in all of Napa Valley. None of these original vines are still living. Even during … [Read more...]

Foley Johnson Winery is one of four Napa Valley based wineries owned by Foley Family Wines & Spirits: the others are Kuleto Estate, Merus Winery and Silverado Vineyards. Previously, Foley Wine Estates operated Foley Food & Wine Society tasting room, which was located at the Vista Collina Resort, just south of the city of Napa, but permanently closed in 2021. … [Read more...]

School House Vineyard is a very small producer of entirely estate wines nestled in the hills of the Spring Mountain District a few hundred yards in on Langtry Road at about 1500 feet. A visit here is for the serious wine enthusiast - their vineyard is truly off the beaten path, there is no tasting room or 'Napa fancy'; all tastings are conducted next to the … [Read more...]

Schramsberg Vineyards is one of Napa Valley's venerable must visit properties; the winery is located just south of Calistoga off of Highway 128 on the west side of the road at Peterson Drive and Schramsberg Road. This is the Diamond Mountain sub appellation. The long steep wooded driveway is narrow and windy so drive carefully and slowly (during harvest … [Read more...]

Schweiger Vineyards harvested their first grapes in 1984 and produced their first commercial vintage in 1994. The original 8 acres was purchased by Fred Schweiger in 1961 when he was 19 years of age. Fred paid $250 per acre for land that was completely forested; of all the vintners we have met in Napa Valley, perhaps Fred was the youngest to ever purchase … [Read more...]

Sequoia Grove Winery was founded in 1978 by James and Barbara Allen when the couple purchased the existing property; the winery on site was bonded in 1980 the same year as their first vintage. The current tasting room used to house the previous winery. James' brother Steve managed the 24-acre vineyard at the time. James, a former language interpreter for the … [Read more...]

Shafer Vineyards was family owned from 1978 (their inaugural vintage) through early 2022. John Shafer (died 2019) founded Shafer Vineyards after a long corporate career in the book publishing industry, based in Chicago. In 1972 at the age of 48 he and his family moved to Napa Valley and purchased 209 acres which at the time had 30 acres of vines dating from … [Read more...]