CAMi Vineyards

CAMi Vineyards was founded by long time Napa resident, Laurie Shelton with her first wine from 2013. Her production is rather small – usually under 200 cases from her tiny 2.5-acre vineyard in the southern part of the Calistoga appellation along the Silverado Trail. When she and her husband at the time Tom Shelton (died in 2008) purchased the property in 2009 there were already Merlot vines growing on site. Tom was well respected in the industry. His career with wine began in San Francisco in 1984 working at Vintage Wine Merchants. Then he worked for Franciscan Vineyards as vice president of sales and marketing – and was at Guenoc Winery (in Lake County) for a short stint. But it was his time at Joseph Phelps that he perhaps will be most remembered for (he was President and CEO of that winery for many years). And he also served on the board of directors for the Napa Vintners for 5 years. He died far to young (of brain cancer) at age 55.

The wine is named after Laurie and Tom’s daughter Cami. When Laurie was pregnant with her, several friends from Montreal were visiting – wine importers, Charles and Sylvie Goyer. Laurie overhead Charles one evening calling to his daughter as she was playing among the grapevines. “Cami, Cami”, he called – short for Camille. Laurie had the idea to name her daughter Cami but Charles said that needed to be her name, rather Camille. And so, it was.

Laurie has been involved in the world of wine for many years. Born and raised in Ann Harbor Michigan, she recalls her childhood was rooted in agriculture with summer stays on her grandparent’s farms. She first began working for Florida based wine broker McKnight Marketing where she represented a number of brands including one of Napa’s older labels, Tulocay. It was her work here that allowed her to meet Tom.

Besides her role with CAMi, Laurie is also an expressionistic painter who divides her time between Palo Alto and her Calistoga property. She admits she has a specific artistic fascination for cows and a number of her pieces feature bovines and other farm animals.

It had been Laurie’s dream to make wine for many years – when Tom was alive they even had a label picked out and for three years they made a home wine at Judds Hill micro crush winery (a barrel of wine from grapes from their property). For a number of years, they were selling the fruit to select wineries. Finally, timing was right – so some 13 years after Cami was born, CAMi Wines was founded with the inaugural vintage of 2013. The focus is on a single wine representing the estate vineyards of which 2.5 acres are about equally divided between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (the entire property is about 5 acres).

The Merlot has the distinction of being from the same cuttings that was used to plant the iconic Three Palms Vineyard (slightly to the north of Laurie’s property); it was planted in 1994 by Paul Saviez of Saviez Vineyard Management and their Cabernet Sauvignon (clone 337) was replanted in 2005 from cuttings taken from Silverado Vineyards in the Stags Leap District.

Today the vines are under the capable hands of Piña Vineyard Management directly managed by Justin Leigon. Winemaker John Giannini has crafted the wines since 2014. Laurie first met John when he was a sous-chef de cuisine at Terra Restaurant in St. Helena (now closed). Without a formal education in oenology John has learned the art of wine making from books and from hands on work. With his culinary background he found recipe books extremely practical, highlighting which ingredients to use and how to make certain dishes. With wine making he has found there is no recipe, no formula and what has been most helpful has been the hands-on work in the cellar and vineyard – with perspective gained from well over a decade of making wine.

He has had a great mentor; through a mutual friend he was introduced to acclaimed winemaker Thomas Brown. Thomas hired him to help with cellar work in 2003 – by 2007 he was promoted to full time Assistant Winemaker at Outpost Winery including helping making wine for Thomas’s other premium clients.

John barrel ferments all of the wines and then ages in the same barrels. He has no formula on how much new French oak is used, preferring to let the vintage dictate – although he often uses 70-90% new French oak. His philosophy is to best express the vineyard site and does not blend in any non-estate fruit. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

While this is Laurie’s project, it is also a homage to Tom Shelton. And Tom’s son Trevor Mansfield is also involved from afar; born with wanderlust, he is a fashion photographer whose travels have taken him from Asia to Europe (where he currently calls Spain home). His photography of various parts of the vineyard is used on every label of their wine and changes each vintage. His work with grape tendrils has created several intriguing labels. And for every vintage he is responsible for choosing a specific quote for the back label; this is an homage to Tom, who enjoyed reading poetry including poems from Robert Frost. And their inaugural release in 2013 includes a poem Trevor wrote which is clearly a highly personalized, powerful and poignant tribute to his father:

“The fruit has past
But its juices thrive
Its legacies never been so alive
Land, light, and wind cast by glass

The bottled spirit of the land
Remember to Laugh over this epitaph
For the memories not bland but grand
And when you taste, do so on behalf
Not of strife, but of love of life.”

Select Wines
Sauvignon Blanc
The 2022 CaMi Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma Coast is pale yellow in the glass; the aromatics are immediately attractive offering scents of pineapple, star jasmine and some stone fruits including nectarine, apricot and peach. Some light tropical influences are also present including mango. Balanced, bright and beautiful, the palate sports flavors of pineapple, mandarin orange, honeydew melon, lychee and slightly under ripe pine nuts. This wine’s texture is also worth noting; its creamy-like and supple character is perfectly matched with its lively acidity. The bright finish (with the flavors of lemon and lime but without any green or grassiness) continues to persist for some time. It was fermented 85% in stainless steel and 15% French oak barrels. Only 80 cases were produced.

Red Wine
The 2015 CAMi Napa Valley Estate Red Wine. Crimson on the rim and dark in the core, opulent and fruit driven aromatics make this a wine you immediately want to take a sip of. Bright aromatics show ripe boysenberry, blackberry, spicy plum, old cedar box and hints of cinnamon. As the wine continues to breathe, more subtle aromas of brown sugar are revealed. Superbly balanced, this wine is seamless across the palate. Dark fruit including blackberry, tinged with toasted vanilla and oak linger on the finish. Smooth and supple, the integration of the slightly dusty and woodsy tannins and the fruit lingers nicely for quite some time. Very approachable in its youth.

The 2014 CAMi Napa Valley Estate Red Wine offers pretty aromatics with a noticeable elegance to its aromatic reveal. It offers floral characteristics including violets and rose petal accompanied by more nuanced secondary aromatics of cedar and tobacco leaf. Simply stated, this wine is packed with flavor but with a supple mouth feel across the palate. It offers flavors of blackberry. An overall plushness and or a textural softness shows on the finish – which lingers with both fruit, hints of mocha, toasted oak and a darker spice presence. Easy to drink.

We have heard about a number of detrimental hazards to grape vines over the years including disease and the occasional destruction of vines when one is hit by a tractor. But this is a first: one of the apparent hazards of a vineyard located next to the Silverado Trail is devastation from automobiles who in the past have become airborne after taking the bend next to the northernmost part of their vineyard too fast. One such vehicle took out about 40 vines on the edge of their vineyard after the driver’s car plowed through their vineyard.

Maison Fayard, Napa
Select bottlings of CAMi Wines are available for tasting and or purchase at Maison Fayard in downtown Napa. This space opened on September 23, 2023. The previous tenant was Engel & Volkers; after they vacated the premises the space was remarkably renovated and completed in about 3 weeks – perhaps some sort of record for shortest amount of time needed to convert an existing space into a tasting room in downtown Napa. The interior remodel was overseen by Cruz Calderon (co-proprietor of Scalon Cellars). Artwork will rotate from time to time; the inaugural artist represented was Laurie Shelton, proprietor of CAMi Vineyards who is known for her paintings of colorful cows.

Maison Fayard is a collection of wines produced by Julien Fayard including wines under his own ownership (Julien Fayard, Purlieu, Just Pink!, Les Vins Julien and Covert Estate). Most of the brands he makes wine for are from Napa Valley but there are several producers whose focus is non Napa Valley wines. This collection is diverse including varieties and price points. The interior is partly a bottle shop, collection of wine accessories and educational tools for sale and a tasting space with a private room located upstairs for more private tastings. Maison Fayard is located at 1408 2nd Street in downtown Napa. As of our latest update, they are open daily from 10 to 6 PM.

This part of 2nd Street (between Franklin & School streets, sometimes locally referred to as SoFi – south of First Street) has seen as much of a renaissance as any other part of downtown. One of Fayard’s nearby wine neighbors, Gamling & McDuck were one of the very first businesses part of this burst of energy brought to this part of the city. It’s a hip and happening place to hang out, especially on the weekends and features a variety of welcoming shops including tasting rooms. And in the spirit of neighbors having fun, Jeffries General next door, Benevolent Neglect across the street and Gamling & McDuck carry nerf guns next to their counters for friendly neighborhood fights. Although on the second day they were open, we personally provided Maison Fayard with a nerf gun of their own to defend themselves as needed.

Maison Fayard also hosts once a month Fayard & Friends Flight Night in which select wines produced by Fayard’s winemaking team plus wines from another non Fayard wine brand are showcased in the tasting salon. And private lunches combined with tastings can be reserved ahead of time.

CAMi Art Gallery, Calistoga
In 2019 Laurie purchased a building at 1333B Lincoln Ave in downtown Calistoga and converted this into The CAMi Art Gallery & Tasting room. The gallery opened in June 2019 and in August 2019 opened for wine tastings during selected hours with both indoor seating at the small bar in the back and sidewalk bistro style seating. Select chocolates were available to pair with the wines. The space displays a number of pieces of art including Laurie’s trademark colorful cows as well as paintings from other artists. This art rotates throughout the year and is all for sale.

The space features a full commercial kitchen and can be rented out for private events.

In 2025 the space transitioned to focus entirely on art and the CAMi wines are no longer available here for tasting or purchase.

While wine is their focus, a number of olive trees are planted on Laurie’s property and were originally purchased from McEvoy Ranch in neighboring Sonoma County. During a good year, they often produce up to 60 gallons of olive oil (which sells out quickly). This olive oil is sold and at times available for tasting in the tasting room. Besides sold direct to consumer through the tasting room, the wines are sold via a mailing list and locally are sometimes available at ACME Wine Shop in St. Helena and at K.Laz Collection in Yountville. Laurie sometimes pours wines at select consumer wine tasting events (check their website for details). For more information or to purchase wine, visit: www.camivineyards.com