Coyoacan Vineyards. Proprietor Rodrigo Enriquez was was born in Mexico City and was raised in Perth, Australia. His father was a scientist and his work was often international related; the family lived in both Mexico and Australia during Rodrigo’s youth. His first job after graduating college was in San Francisco providing IT consulting for Price Waterhouse Coopers and later working for an investment banking company. He left his job and took a year off to travel around the world, eventually returning to San Francisco with the intent to open a hostel. But after researching his options, he discovered it would be too expensive to both purchase a building and simultaneously operate a hostel.
So he decided to start a tour company, taking time to conduct market research on potential trips that would be most in demand. He looked at Yosemite as a destination; there were no public buses going to Yosemite from San Francisco and he realized that many international backpackers did not yet have driver’s licenses. He started Extranomical Tours in 2002 focusing on day trips; his first tours were to Yosemite and then additional tours were added to Muir Woods, Monterey and Sonoma and Napa Valley.
Two of his most visited wineries were Cline and Viansa; both are easily accessible from San Francisco. His tours expanded and he began visiting other wineries in the region including the tasting room for Mayo Family Winery, based in Kenwood. He began bringing numerous groups here, to the point that in 2014 the owner Jeff Mayo produced a special wine called Rodrigo’s Cuvee, a Tempranillo based blend named in his honor.
After he began bringing guests to wine country, he began to consider purchasing property, initially in Sonoma County. He sold his tour business in 2016 and began looking for land, but never found the right fit or the right price. However, in 2018 he was introduced to a 20-acre property on Howell Mountain that was bank owned; it included a vineyard planted at an elevation of around 1,700 feet ABSL. This site is generally above the fog and features volcanic soils.
Rodrigo jokes that his skill set at the time was avoiding getting run over by a bus and knowing how to navigate one of the largest cities in the western hemisphere (Mexico City). But with that said, he has long been interested in how grapes are grown and made into wine, but he never thought he would actually start a wine brand due to his perceived barrier to entry including the significant costs.
At the time of his purchase, one acre was already planted, known as the Apple Orchard block, named after the former orchard that was planted here in 2013, entirely to Cabernet Sauvignon. However, this block was not well cared for during the bank ownership of the property; in fact the individual who had planted these vines, Jorge Perez would visit the property from time to time to make sure the vines had enough water. The previous owner had secured an an erosion control plan and was already permitted to plant another three acres of grapevines.
So Rodrigo hired a vineyard management company to oversee the existing one acre of vines, but then he started securing quotes to plant the additional three acres. And the advice he received was to do this soon and don’t wait since county regulations might become even more stringent. He hired John Derr of Derr Vineyard Management to plant the additional three acres in 2021. Rodrigo tried to absorb as much viticulture information as possible including learning by doing, working with the vineyard crew as the vineyard architecture was laid out and then ultimately planted.
He took over the management of his vineyard in 2022. He acquired a tractor and hired a vineyard consultant. And he continues to further his own education, taking classes at UC Davis including from Dr. Paul Anamosa, a well-known soils scientist in the industry. Incidentally, when Dr. Anamosa owned his company Vineyard Soil Technologies, he was hired to conduct soil studies on the property for the previous owner.
The first harvest from the additional blocks was in 2024; these grapes were sold to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and in 2025 the grapes were sold to Darioush Winery. The vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon along with with 0.5 acres of Cabernet Franc. The three blocks on the property are named: Cold Springs (planted in 2021), Manzanita – planted to Cabernet Franc and named in homage to a prominent Manzanita tree that grows here and the original Orchard block. Due to the elevation and location, the grapes are typically harvested very late in the season.
This is a premium vineyard neighborhood; Dana Estate’s Hershey Vineyard borders the north side of the property and Cliff Family’s Cold Spring is on the south side. And two other nearby properties include Aloft and Beringer’s Bancroft Ranch.
Rodrigo met winemaker and local historian, Mario Sculatti soon after he acquired the house. Mario heard the property had recently been purchased and wanted to see if Rodrigo would be interested in selling the parcel. He was not. But this interaction led to additional opportunities. Mario purchased grapes from the property in 2019 for his own wine brand and Rodrigo later hired him to be his winemaker. The wines are produced at Napa Wine Company in Oakville.
Coyoacan is named after the colonial neighborhood in Mexico City where Rodrigo spent time as a youth and where his parents lived. This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Mexico City; the streets contained within its 29 block footprint are lined with cobblestones. The Parish of San Juan Bautista was constructed between 1520 and 1552. This borough is one of the most visited neighborhoods in Mexico City, especially on the weekends where parades and festivals are often hosted. Many famous individuals are associated with Coyoacán including its two most famous residents, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. And in 1940 Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was murdered in Coyoacán.
Coyoacán in Spanish means ‘place of the coyotes’. And this ties in with Rodrigo’s Howell Mountain property; coyotes often wander through his property and a family lives within a brushy section on part of the property.
Select Wines
The 2021 Coyoacan Cabernet Sauvignon, Orchard Block Howell Mountain is deep ruby and opaque in color. The bouquet is a union of both dark fruits and sweet gentle barrel influences. Highly generous at this age four years post vintage, this wine smells like blackberry, boysenberry, dark plum, cocoa powder, mocha and a minerally light dusty nuance. This wine tastes like ripe blackberry, dark cherry and dark plums with a lingering note of dark chocolate and cocoa powder. Finishes dark fruited and savory including notes of dried sage and other herbs along with smoked cedar and cloves. We love its textural profile; present but not edgy, rather the tannic feel is tumbled with a light gravelly and dusty persistent character. Neither fruit nor tannins pull away from each other on the extended finish. This bottling at this age is remarkably approachable in terms of both vintage and its elevated site. This wine was in barrel for approximately two years and then in bottle for another two years.
The 2022 Coyoacan Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby and completely dark; perhaps less influenced from its élevage than the 2021 vintage, the bouquet is a dark fruited, ripe and bright expression of the variety. The initial aromatic hit is of Satsuma plum, dark cherry, blackberry, boysenberry, sweaty baseball mitt leather, subtle florals including African violets and lavender and a finishing note of dried tobacco leaf. And like the 2022 vintage, a dusty character. Intensely flavored but without any robust mountain tannins, this wine tastes like blackberry, boysenberry, dark plum, cherry and dried sage and bay leaf. The tannins are lightly grainy, gravelly and dusty and are felt more so on the front of the palate than the back. This is an ideal BBQ wine. While younger than the 2021, the texture is less polished. The acidity is bright and balanced.
While we only have tried two bottlings to date, each wine spoke to its particular vintage and were distinctive from one another.
The stylized image on the wine label originates from a photograph Rodrigo took of a newly forming bud and leaves on a grapevine. Each bottle is hand labeled, hand numbered and waxed. And we are not talking a large production here; each vintage is merely 25 to 70 cases. At this production, this might be the smallest vineyard owned producer in Napa Valley.
Howell Mountain Estate
The air is clean up here, above the fog line and smells fresh, similar to the aromatics at the same elevation in the Sierra Nevada mountains due to similar vegetation. The sizable custom built house dates from 1981; it nestled among the woods and due to its location, offers an extremely private stay. Exceptionally spacious, its 6,000 square feet is spread among several floors. It is rented on a nightly basis; arriving guests receive a short tour of the home and weather permitting parts of the property.
Through a coveted permit available for bed & breakfasts within Napa County, paying guests of this estate will eventually be able to enjoy the Coyoacan wines on premise. Individual rooms are rented as a two-night minimum stay. Ask Rodrigo to show you the small space he converted into a speakeasy. This room was previously used as a dental lab/office by the former occupant. Other amenities include a cozy ‘home theatre’ with deep recessed bean bags for ultimate relaxation, a pool, a Jacuzzi, several BBQs, a bocce ball court, an ax throwing alley, a mediation circle, the ‘sunset terrace’ and a hiking trail.
And while a stay here feels worlds away from the Napa Valley that most people think of in terms of ‘wine country’ in reality, with little traffic, it is only a 15 minute drive to downtown St. Helena.
VAULT Wine + Artifacts
As of 2025, Coyoacan Vineyards is part of a select group of vintners hosting tastings by appointment in VAULT Wine + Artifacts in Calistoga. This space was previously the home of ROAM Antiques; in early 2021 ROAM Antiques closed permanently, and the building underwent a major renovation which was completed by late summer 2021. The VAULT Wine + Artifacts space anchoring the south side of Lincoln Avenue on the far west side of Calistoga is a partnership between Mario Sculatti and Trevor Mallett.
The space re-opened as VAULT Wine + Artifacts in Fall 2021, a wine tasting space for several brands owned by Trevor and Mario, along with select other wines from Stringer Cellars and Sarah Francis, among others. Of the vintners represented in this space, the only sparkling wine available is the Sarah Francis bottling. In the spirit of the previous antiques business, a number of historical wine objects are displayed inside. These include winemaking equipment, hand-blown glass and an impressive collection of corkscrews. Other than the large items, most everything is for sale in the gallery.
The centerpiece of the space is an old Roman press, whose heritage Trevor told us, is possibly from either Austria or Ukraine. Old wooden Roman presses are extremely rare in Napa Valley. The only two wineries we know of who own Roman presses from earlier winemaking days are Nichelini Family Winery and Yates Family Vineyards. Another smaller wooden press is from Germany with words in German engraved in the wood which roughly translate to: “In good times and in bad times we still make red and white wine”!
As of our latest update to this review, VAULT Wine + Artifacts offers three tastings including Valley Floor, Mountain and Unique Varieties. Visits are preferably by appointment, but staff will try to accommodate walk-ins if not busy. A side room seats up to 8 people for a private and more intimate tasting. A large mirror greets visitors inside this room; it doubles as a secret door to another room, containing a library and and office.
—
A limited number of magnums of the Coyoacan wines are produced each year. The wines are poured at a limited number of events each year including at consumer tastings organized by the Howell Mountain AVA. Private tastings of select Coyoacan wines can be requested to be hosted by Rodrigo as schedules allow. For more information, visit: www.coyoacanvineyards.com
Leave a Reply