Conn Creek Winery

Conn Creek Winery was founded in 1973 by Bill and Kathy Collins (Bill died in early 2017 at age 89 and Kathy passed in late 2023 one day short of age 94); this is one of the older continuously operating wine brands in Napa Valley. Bill and Kathy purchased 54 acres of Zinfandel (finding the property listing in the Wall Street Journal’s real estate section) off of Highway 29 just north of St. Helena in 1968 and called it the Collins Holystone Vineyard. Bill founded an engineering firm Collins & Hyde (later Collins Electronics) and lived in the San Jose area before eventually moving to Napa Valley.

Their first two vintages were from purchased wines since the Holystone Vineyard was planted to old vines of Carignane, Chasselas, Sauvignon Vert and Zinfandel and they elected to not make wine from these grapes. Rather, they decided to pull out most of these vines and began replanting the vineyard to Cabernet Sauvignon. Therefore, their vines were still too young to begin producing wines, but Conn Creek needed wines to release. So, in the mid 1970s Conn Creek purchased several lots of wines produced at Lyncrest Vineyard along with various winemaking equipment at an auction.

Lyncrest Vineyard, (named after primary partner Dick Lynn) on Spring Mountain is now the site of Marston Vineyards. It ultimately closed down in 1974 (the last year of their production) due to bankruptcy and sadly the old wooden building next to the crush pad burned down in the 2020 Glass Fire. Conn Creek Vineyards purchased in barrel a 1973 Steltzner Vineyard wine and in tank a 1974 wine from the iconic Eisele Vineyard in Calistoga. Conn Creek bottled these as their first ever releases. We can find no record of a 1975 vintage from Conn Creek nor a 1977 vintage; they have produced continuously since 1978.

The Collins purchased property for Conn Creek Winery in the mid 1970s, next to the intersection of Highway 128 and the Silverado Trail. Several of their partners at the time were also involved in other Napa wineries including Francis and Francoise Dewarin (founders of Chateau Woltner – now owned by the PlumpJack Group) and Koerner Rombauer, founder of Rombauer Vineyards. The partners built the winery in 1979 after outgrowing a facility they were leasing which is now site of PlumpJack Estate Winery. Its construction was made with 12″ thick walls made of Styrofoam and other materials including 20,000 wine corks.

The Collins sold the winery, brand and surrounding property in 1986 but retained their Holystone Vineyard (which their son Peter still manages today) and sold some grapes back to Conn Creek through the 2012 vintage. Collins’ Holystone Vineyard contains rare (for Napa Valley) 5 acres of ancient vines of Zinfandel and according to the Historical Vineyard Society, at least 1/3 of these vines still date back to the 1920s. Collins Holystone was partially named after Bill and Kathy Collins and “holystone” refers to a porous sandstone rock used to scrub wooden decks of ships. This is an appropriate name since the vineyard is full of rocks and Bill spent several years in the U.S. Navy.

OWNERSHIP UPDATE: Conn Creek Winery and brand was previously owned by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates based in Woodinville, Washington, about a 30-minute drive north of Seattle. In 2021 Chateau St. Michelle Winery was sold by the tobacco firm Altria to equity firm Sycamore Partners. This company sold its interest in Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 2023 to Marchesi Antinori, also the owners of Antinori Napa Valley on Atlas Peak.

In 2023, the Conn Creek Winery property but NOT the brand, was sold to Marchesi Antinori. As of 2024, the former Conn Creek Winery is closed to the public and is currently not hosting visitors for tastings. Its production facility is used by Antinori for producing white wines. This property is currently referred to as Stag’s Leap St. Helena.

And in February 2024 the Conn Creek Wine brand only was sold by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates to Third Leaf Wines, an owner, importer and sales and marketing company for numerous wines and sake. The parent company of Third Leaf Wines is San Francisco based, Third Leaf Partners. Conn Creek is now part of the 2Tier Trading portfolio of wineries and wine brands.

After the transition in ownership, Conn Creek continues production and brought on winemaker Jean Hoefliger to produce the Conn Creek Wines. The first Conn Creek wines produced under his oversight were released to existing mailing list customers in 2024 and then were shown at Premiere Napa Valley in February 2025.

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Conn Creek sources from vineyards up and down Napa Valley ranging from valley floor to hillsides from Carneros to Calistoga. They source grapes from many of the 17 sub-AVAs in Napa Valley. As a result of all their vineyard sources, Conn Creek produces a number of limited production single vineyard wines focusing on Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon bottled under their AVA Series. These limited-production hand crafted wines are not similar smelling and tasting expression with different labels on the bottle; rather they represent unique vineyard sites and terroir and each wine is meant to be unique from the others. A couple of our favorites are the Hozhoni Vineyard (Rutherford), Rutherford Estate and the Herrick Vineyard in Yountville.

Conn Creek’s former winemaker Mike McGrath began working at Conn Creek in 1986 and spent most of his career making their wines before he retired in mid 2017. Influential winemaker André Tchelistcheff used to consult for Conn Creek. One day Mike called him up and complained the wines were tasting too acidic and the tannins were too strong. Andre came down to the winery to see for himself. Finding nothing wrong with the wines he told Mike he was probably getting a cold which was altering his palate. Sure enough, two days later Mike came down with a cold.

The Conn Creek wines are well made utilizing privately owned premium vineyard sites. The wines are crafted to be approachable in their youth, with great balance right out of the gate yet are simultaneously built to be age worthy. These wines under the current ownership and skills of winemaker Jean Hoefliger showcase a fresh approach to the brand, while respecting the heritage and pedigree built over 50+ harvests in Napa Valley.

Select Wines
Whites
Sauvignon Blanc
The 2024 Conn Creek Sauvignon Blanc is medium golden in color; while elegant the bouquet leans more towards a riper expression of this variety, but it retains its freshness accompanied by an herbal lift. The bouquet smells like yellow nectarines, apricot, honeysuckle, thyme, a minerally character including a light note of chalk, citrus blossom and lemon zest. Its aromatics are a play between tropical, herbal and stone fruits. Juicy, bright and refreshing, this wine tastes like mandarin orange, kumquat, golden plums and lemon meringue. The racy acidity lifts the palate high and balances out its lightly creamy texture. The grapes were both from the Oak Knoll District and from various sites within the Napa Valley appellation. This wine was fermented in 70% stainless steel vessels.

Jean likes to talk about the style of this variety in particular. He takes careful measure to protect the aromatic typicity of this variety and never pushes it too far in the direction of being green or grassy. He considers pyrazines a positive attribute of the variety, as long as they are carefully managed. He describes making a premium Sauvignon Blanc as one that is dressed appropriately in terms of both flavor and texture. It is a variety where harvest dates are chosen thoughtfully, the aromatics are carefully preserved, pressing off in the cellar is an integral part of its winemaking, yeast choices and the temperature of fermentation and barrel regiments are all highly important. This is precision winemaking.

One day while in the cellar at Alpha Omega Winery he was visited by winemaker Tom Rinaldi who was making wine at the time across Highway 29 at Provenance. Tom tried the current release of the Alpha Omega Sauvignon Blanc and recommended to Jean that he give the wine at least a kiss of oak. From then on he followed his advice and his Sauvignon Blanc always sees a least a touch of oak. Jean considers it much more difficult to produce a fine Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc than a robust Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Chardonnay
The 2024 Conn Creek Chardonnay, Carneros Napa Valley is medium gold in color; the bouquet is both tropical and stone fruited including pineapple, pineapple guava, yellow nectarine, yellow peach, apricot, alphonso mango and vanilla. As Jean told us, the oak is present without being dominant. This bouquet smells ripe, compelling and crowd friendly – opposite of what one would expect from its listed refreshing ABV of only 13.0%. The one word we wrote about the cadence of the palate is balance. Nothing dominates; we like that. On the palate there are flavors of golden apples, pineapple, apricot and nectarine. Its texture is rounded, silky and supple, like running one’s hands across a soft cashmere sweater. The bright acidity buoys its weight. The grapes for this wine are harvested early so that their vibrant character on the vine is reflected in the wines. In terms of preserving the aromatics but keeping the alcohol lower, they harvest a certain percentage at a lower brix level and the rest at at higher brix. This wine was fermented 85% in French oak barrels and 15% in stainless steel vessels. And prior to bottling all the lots are blended and kept in a stainless steel tank, an anerobic environment, which according to Jean contributes more tension to the wine.

Reds
Class of ’73, Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2021 Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, Class of ’73 is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon 10% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot; this wine is deep ruby and opaque. The spicy bouquet offers aromas representing both their harvest decisions, site and also barrel choices. These scents include dried herbs, raspberry, boysenberry, tobacco spice, dried earth, and as evolves it opens to some noticeable barrel presence including dark chocolate and dark cocoa powder. Juicy and higher toned in terms of its acidity and red fruits, this wine tastes like cherry, red plums, currant, not fully ripe blackberry, a flavor we are highly aware of during our weekly berry harvesting forays from mid to late summer, boysenberry and tobacco. We won’t argue with you if you want to describe its palate profile as being savory. Finishes smooth and approachable in its youth especially noticeable as compared to other red wines from Napa Valley from this vintage. The gentle but present tannins linger with a rounded and spherical shaped texture. This wine was aged in 40% new French oak barrels. This is a character driven wine filled with plenty of layers, characteristics achieved by harvesting for ripeness, not over ripeness. This wine was sourced from a number of vineyards within various Napa Valley appellations including Atlas Peak and Oak Knoll. This is their flagship wine and is crafted each year to honor the legacy of the tiny group of wineries who were founded in 1973 in Napa Valley and are still producing. A local artist replicated and refreshed the look of the original label.

Cuvée Collins, Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2021 Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, Cuvée Collins Napa Valley is a blend of 90.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 4.6& Malbec. The majority of the grapes for this wine were sourced from Spring Mountain District with the remainder from Atlas Peak and other sites within the Napa Valley appellation. This wine is deep ruby and opaque in color; it smells like baked plums, crushed rocks, cherry, raspberry, blackberry, Persian mulberry, sweet tobacco and dark chocolate. The bouquet is a riper and more fruity profile (more contemporary Napa Valley) as compared to the Class of 73 bottling from the same vintage. This wine is generous with plenty of layers and tastes like plum, dark cherry, blackberry, boysenberry and dark currant. Loaded with an intensity of flavor. Finishes ripe but brightly lit. The tannins are fully coating, appreciable, and linger with a rounded and dusty character in tandem with the fruit. The components of this wine were made by the previous winemaking team, so Jean oversaw the final blending. The Malbec was sourced from Oak Knoll District; in terms of this variety, Jean loves its expression in particular, from cooler climates. It contributes a freshness to the wine, while the mountain growing Cabernet Sauvignon contributes mineralities and structure.

AVA Series, Cabernet Sauvignon
The AVA Series are all 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from premium vineyards in select sub appellations within the Napa Valley. Part of the AVA series, Anthology is perhaps the wine Conn Creek is most known for, although it has certainly evolved over the years. When we first tasted this wine, it was a Bordeaux styled blend but today is 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2016 Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain was sourced from the Crowley Vineyard at about 2,000 feet in elevation on Spring Mountain. The bouquet is elegant with sweet fruit driven aromatics and a kiss of mocha. The palate shows flavors of plum and dark cherry lingering with notes of dried tobacco leaf. Showcases a juicy mouthwatering finish. Savory. Arguably this is the most robust of the AVA series wines we tried. Finishes with granular tannins that retain their grip for some time but their texture is not heavy or coarse. The grapes for this wine were hand harvested with fermetnation conducted with approximately 75% whole berries. At dryness it was pressed to barrel where malolactic fermentation was completed. This wine was aged for 18 months in 40$ new French oak barrels.

The 2016 Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder is from the Saffron Vineyard (next to Mayacamas Winery) at an elevation ranging from 1200 to 1500 feet. The wine is noticeably dark in the glass; it offers very attractive aromatics focusing on fruit rather than additional influences from its time in oak. Lingers with earthy, grainy tannins, darker spices, blue fruits including blueberries, dark cherries and dark currants. And importantly, a mouthwatering acidity. Wonderfully balanced. This wine was aged for 18 months in 83% new French oak barrels.

Winemaker André Tchelistcheff coined the phrase, “It takes Rutherford dust to grow great Cabernet.” Twisted slightly and commonly used today is the term, Rutherford Dust which can sometimes (not always) reflect the features of the soils in this sub appellation as characteristics within the wines themselves including texture.

The 2016 Conn Creek Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of grapes from their former estate vineyard and the somewhat nearby Hozhoni Vineyard. The bouquet on this wine is noticeably distinctive compared to the aromatics from their other Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings. Unmistakable is the smell of dry rocks, a dust-like quality if you will validating the expression, Rutherford Dust. There are also hints of dried tobacco leaf. But there is also plenty of fruit – primarily blackberry. The palate is balanced with darker fruit flavors with a moderate yet noticeable grip of long-lasting granular tannins. The finish lingers with a cigar note, dark fruit and some darker spices.

Yet remarkably different is the 2017 Conn Creek Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon (same two vineyard sources). With a bouquet that could be easily picked out of a lineup in a blind tasting, the aromatics are ripe and dessert spice forward. Pronounced are notes of a balsamic reduction along with Graham cracker, cardamom, brown sugar and fruit sweetness including plum. There is an appealing acid/fruit flavor balance on the palate that might be somewhat surprising considering the ripeness of the bouquet; the finish lingers with earthy somewhat dusty tannins, some nutmeg spice and plenty of fruit.

Anthology
The 2021 Conn Creek Anthology, Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is deep ruby and opaque; earthy, red fruited and floral, this bouquet smells like African violets, lilacs, and a light note of toasted oak and dark cocoa powder – with a note of chocolate staying in the background. Bright, layered and lively across the palate, this wine tastes like boysenberry, blackberry, red cherry, dark raspberry and Persian mulberry. It features loads of layering in terms of both flavor and texture. Lingers with a note of dried tobacco leaf, a dusty and or chalky character. Gravelly. The broadly spread tannins fully coat the palate and linger beyond the fruit on the finish. Finishes bright with the fruit almost outlasting the tannins. This wine represents a broad swath of Napa Valley with 71% of the grapes from Napa Valley appellation, 4.5% from St. Helena, 9.6% from Spring Mountain District and 4.8% from Atlas Peak. The majority of the grapes were from valley floor sites.

The 2016 Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Anthology is 100% varietal with vineyard sources from 6 sub appellations; the grapes from each vineyard site were fermented separately before being blended together. Medium ruby in color it offers an elegant bouquet with darker plum, cherry, some toasted cedar and as the wine opens further, mocha and espresso. This wine has absolutely no harsh edges on the palate, rather it is supple from start to finish. The light tension across the palate is an appealing characteristic. The finish is anchored by fine-grained tannins.

The 2014 Conn Creek Anthology is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 2.5% Malbec and .05% Petit Verdot; it is dark ruby in the glass with bright aromatics including blackberry and plum. Its texture showcases a pleasing suppleness on the front and mid palate with well-integrated tannins anchoring the finish along with some spice notes, presumably from the oak. This is a food friendly versatile wine that expresses lively acidity. It was aged for 18 months in oak (50% new French, 5% new American and 45% used oak. And it really is an expression of Napa Valley, with grapes sources from 14 vineyards across 10 different sub-AVAs.

Yount Room, Yountville
Starting in early 2026 visitors will be able to enjoy premium wines from several brands under the same ownership at the Yount Room in their space within Yountville Station, a series of shops in Yountville. The focus here is on approachable and affordable wines, to both serve locals and visitors to the valley with an approach that is welcoming and open to introducing younger generations to their portfolio. Wines can be ordered by the glass, bottle or by flight.

And based on representing wines made by several winemakers, special events featuring these wine makers will be offered on site. Yountville allows wine spaces within town to showcase up to 25% of their wines from outside of the county; as a result several of the wines available are from non Napa Valley vineyards. And Conn Creek maintains a library collection; older vintages may be available for tasting.

Conn Creek will continue to produce the AVA Blending Sessions in some form to be hosted in the Yount Room. The idea here is to create a fun experience for people and introduce them to the fact that winemaking is not rocket science. And make the emotional connection of being able to blend and bottle one’s own wine. And showcase an unpretentious and learning experience.

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Total production each year used to be in the 30,000 case range but has significantly dropped in recent years to around 5,000 cases. Tastings are hosted in the Yount Room in Yountville, a collective of several brands under the Assemblage Retail Wine Group. For more information or to purchase wines, visit: www.conncreek.com

ARCHIVED NOTES & PHOTOGRAPHY
AVA Room Barrel Blending Experience
This experience is no longer offered; we keep our notes and photographs here for historical reference. During a trip to France former winemaker McGrath participated in a cellar tasting in which wines were tasted from many different appellations. Enjoying the experience, he brought the concept back to Conn Creek. He was instrumental in setting up their appointment only one-of-a-kind Napa offering, known as the AVA Room Barrel Blending Experience.

The AVA room contained barrels of wine from vineyards within many of Napa Valley’s sub appellations. This room was originally used for club members and those in the industry for tastings. This was a fun and educational introduction to the art of blending components together to create a wine with favorable aromas, flavor and structure. It was also a rare opportunity to taste wines in one location sourced from vineyards throughout the valley. The wines were organized by style ranging from soft, supple, complex, rich and bold. While tasting through each style of wine, the wine educator would simultaneously explain each of the wine’s various nuances and what it potentially could contribute to your blend.

Once visitors tasted through the various styles they would then choose their favorite wines; a provided pipet was used to create one’s own blend by siphoning off specific percentages. Once the base Cabernet Sauvignon blend was created, there were opportunities to further add to the complexity of the blend with additional Bordeaux varieties including Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. The same barrel regiment was used for all wines, the wines were all the same vintage, and each wine was 100% varietal from the barrels. Soil samples were provided from the vineyards represented. This two-hour seminar was offered twice daily.

One of their wine educators, Tom, used to recommend the morning session, saying “what better way to start off the day but to taste through single vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon”. Agreed! The seminar included a basic overview of Napa Valley, a number of tastes of the blending components, advice provided during the own blending including various techniques and strategies, and the fun part – an included 750ml bottle of one’s own custom blend to take away. Following the seminar, visitors also enjoyed a tasting of their current Anthology release along with select other current releases.

It was important to take good notes on the provided blending card including blending percentages, varieties and vineyards as the winemaking team would duplicate these exact blends for customer’s to order; the minimum was a case.

Generally, this was a session of cooperation and collaboration. However, some groups reserved the space for private gatherings and it became a competitive environment with each attendee trying to create the ‘best’ blend. These groups sometimes even brought their own trophy to award the ‘winner’.

Former AVA Blending Experience

Former winery exterior

Former winery, interior

Holystone Vineyard (no longer selling grapes to Conn Creek)

Chateau Ste. Michelle, formerly a part of Conn Creek’s parent company is a gorgeous estate open for tastings and tours throughout the year. The property is 105 mostly wooded acres and used to be called the Hollywood Farm. This is the oldest winery in the state of Washington having been founded in 1954 with roots dating back to 1934 – however the first vintage of Chateau Ste. Michelle was not produced until 1967 overseen in a consulting role by legendary Napa Valley winemaker André Tchelistcheff. The French-styled chateau was built in 1976.

Today the winery operates two separate state of the art production facilities – one for whites in Woodinville and one for reds at their Canoe Ridge Estate property (559 acres) located outside of the tiny community of Paterson along the banks of the Columbia River (an extremely confusing name since there is also a non-related Canoe Ridge Vineyard – a winery + separate tasting room in the town of Walla Walla). The first vineyard planted for Chateau Ste. Michelle was in 1973, the Cold Creek Vineyard – now 753 acres and dedicated to André Tchelistcheff. Andre’s influence in Napa Valley has certainly been well chronicled – however he also left his mark on the Washington wine industry. And his nephew Alex Golitzin co-founded one of Washington’s top wineries Quilceda Creek along with his wife Jeannette.

Today Chateau Ste. Michelle contracts the majority of their grapes (rather than owning vineyards) and they are the largest producer of Riesling wines in the country.

Chateau Ste. Michelle, similar to Robert Mondavi Winery helped spawn the careers of numerous winemakers. Noted Washington vintner and founder of Long Shadows Winery, Allen Shoup worked at Chateau Ste. Michelle from 1980 until 2000, serving 17 years as the company’s CEO.

Visitors to the winery are free to explore the gorgeous grounds and picnic. Several tasting or tour options are available on site including an estate tasting (no appointment required) a tour of the winery + tasting, a guided tour of the property including a tasting, a blending session where guests learn the art of ‘building’ wines through blending and a separate sensory educational experience focusing on identifying characteristics of wine including both through smell and taste.

Also popular at the winery is their Summer Concert Series (similar to the ones held at Robert Mondavi Winery – but with a bit more space). Popular acts perform on select dates throughout the summer – big name acts have performed here in the past including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and John Legend.

Chateau Ste Michelle, Woodinville, WA EXTERIOR

Chateau Ste Michelle, Woodinville, WA INTERIOR