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Moss Creek Winery

Review by Dave Leave a Comment

Quick Info
Moss Creek Winery
6015 Steele Canyon Road, Napa
Phone: 252-1295

www.mosscreekwinery.com

Hours: Call

Open to Public: No

Appointments: Yes

Regular Tours: No

Moss-Creek-Winery (1) Moss Creek Winery is located in eastern Napa County, about a 30 minute drive from downtown Napa along windy and narrow roads at time. Moss Creek is only a 10 minute drive to Lake Berryessa. The ridge that rises near their vineyards forms the county boundary. The winery name comes from the small creek that runs through part of their ranch. This winery was built in 1988/1989 by the Moskowite family who have farmed lands in Napa Valley since 1916. The architect for Moss Creek Winery was Bob Keenan. This part of Napa County features very few wineries; the closest winery neighbors to Moss Creek are both approximately a 10 minute drive away – M.S. Torun along the shores of Lake Berryessa, Somerston Estate and Mount George Winery.

William Moskowite and his wife lived in Cape Town, South Africa in the 1890s following the South African diamond mining. In 1906 the family moved to Schellville, in Carneros in Sonoma County. They later moved to San Francisco and purchased ranchland in what was Monticello Valley in 1916. In late October of 1931, their son Theodore was incorrectly mentioned in several local newspapers as having drowned while swimming in the surf at Ocean Beach San Francisco after his car was discovered parked near the beach with a change of clothing inside. He was a foreman at his brother George’s ranch in Napa Valley. William died in 1954 at nearly 89 years of age.

One of William’s sons, George Moskowite (wife Dorothy, a native of South Africa) was as prominent rancher in this part of the county, a resort owner and on the board of directors for the Napa Town and Country Fair, an organization he served as president for 15 years. He was also president of the Napa National Farm Loan Association. He and Dorothy moved to Napa in 1924 and to eastern Napa County in 1944. According to an article in The Napa Valley Register dated July 30, 1957, George acquired 1,257 acres of land in Berryessa Valley that year for $50,000.

And the intersection of Highway 121 and Highway 128 is known as Moskowite Corners, established by George and Dorothy in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a restaurant and then later as service station. A bar was later added. Moss Creek Winery is located near this intersection as is Moskowite Reservoir. For reference, the construction of the dam which would form Lake Berryessa was completed in late 1957, and it then took several more years for the reservoir to completely fill to maximum capacity. Lake Berryessa is strongly connected to the Moskowite family. George died at age 67 in 1964.

One of George’s other sons, Harold Moskowite (WWII veteran) was also a rancher, over the years raising sheep and cattle to eventually planting grapes. His family ranch was originally in Monticello Valley, lands that are currently covered by Lake Berryessa. But his contributions to the community went way beyond ranching. He founded Moskowite Construction Company in the 1950s; one of their largest projects involved working on the construction of the dam for Lake Berryessa.

He started and ran the small bar and gas station at Moskowite Corner – later expanding to the Moskowite Lodge, serving boaters and tourists visiting Lake Berryessa. He and his father were founding partners in the Lake Berryessa Development Corporation, overseeing the construction of Steele Park Resort. Harold sold his shares in this resort in 1975; it was demolished in 2009 and is currently only open for seasonal camping and boat launching.

Harold founded Moskowite Ambulance Service, servicing primarily eastern Napa County for a few short years until it became too expensive to operate; he built the Moskowite Corners Mobile Home Park and also Moss Creek Winery. He was also a private pilot. And he served 4 terms as Napa County Supervisor, starting in 1977, with a fourth term culminating in 2008. He died at age 91 in 2018.

NOTE: this review has been identified as needing a *major* update. Moss Creek has started producing wines again, with several SKUs released in late summer 2025. We will visit again, taste through the wines and fully update this profile as soon as time allows.

At one point their family’s land holdings in the nearby region totaled over 10,000 acres crossing into Wooden, Capell and Berryessa valleys. It is still large; the family currently owns over 1,300 acres. Much of the property remains in its natural setting. The family’s initial entry into winemaking was started during prohibition, a time in American history generally not conducive for starting a new winery. William made sacramental wine from Muscat grapes on their property during prohibition.

The Moskowite’s planted grapes here in 1972 and sold the fruit to other wineries. Today the winery is run by George (Harold’s son) and his wife Ann Moskowite; after being closed for several years, they re-opened the winery. George was a standout wrestler at Vintage High School in Napa; in 1976 he became state champion for his wrestling. The George Moskowite award was created by Vintage High, awarded to their best wrestler each year. In 2013 he was added to the Vintage High School Hall of Fame. He is a retired stockbroker.

Moss-Creek-Winery (5) Moss Creek does not use all their own grapes for their own wines (175 planted acres) so they still sell some of the grapes to premium wineries including Markham, Raymond and Saddleback Cellars among others. Moss Creek uses grapes from the highest quality blocks on the property to make their own wine. Often during harvest they will pick a single block multiple times, ensuring only the ripest grapes will be processed. Our first visit in 2008 coincided with harvest and there were several open top fermenters already in use with the wonderful smells of fermenting grapes and juice hanging in the air almost tempting one to start tasting. Harvest is always a nice time to be visiting wineries and we were able to try several samples of partially fermented juice from several varieties.

The first winemaker at Moss Creek was Don Moskowite. Winemaker Nils Venge later made the wines for Moss Creek; he is well known for producing a Cabernet Sauvignon at Groth Winery which earned a perfect 100 score from Robert Parker at the Wine Advocate. This made him the first American winemaker to earn this coveted distinction. And his son Kirk Venge is a sought after consulting winemaker in Napa Valley.

Moss Creek holds back their wines for aging longer than many wineries. When their wines are finally released to the consumer, they have already been properly well aged. And Moss Creek holds back vintages, releasing them selectively as library wines. During our first visit, wines up to 10 years old were available for sale.

Select Wines
Moss Creek produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc, but perhaps they are most known for their Zinfandel. And they also produce a port-styled wine from Zinfandel. Some of their late 1990 vintages of Zinfandel Port have held up remarkably well. The inaugural vintage under George and Ann’s direction was in 1994, a Cabernet Sauvignon, released in 1999.

Tasting notes for current release wines coming by end of November 2025.

—

Visitors can enjoy the Moss Creek wines at their own pace inside a small tasting room, or weather permitting outside under the oak trees. A small but functional cave is located in the back of the winery; visitors are sometimes brought here for some barrel sampling. Production is several thousand cases annually although there are plans to ramp this up slightly.

The winery has been used by several wineries or brands over the decades for making their own wines. Jason Ball of Brick Angel used to make his wines here and is who we first met with at Moss Creek Winery. So did Bart Barthélemy of Barthélemy Cellars. For several years Moss Creek Winery was leased by the Scotto family where they produced wines bottled under Scotto Cellars and referred to the production facility as Steele Canyon Cellars. As of our latest update to this review, Seth Cripe of Lola Wines was using this winery to make his wines.

For more information, to purchase wines or to schedule a tasting, please visit: www.mosscreekwinery.com


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