Outpost Winery is located on top of Summit Lake Drive at an elevation of 2200 feet – about 10 minutes outside of the small town of Angwin. This road should almost be called Zinfandel Drive as several other premium Zinfandel producers are located within minutes of Outpost off of this same road. This is in northern Napa Valley's Howell Mountain appellation. As … [Read more...]

William Cole Vineyards. Founders William (Bill) and Jane Ballentine purchased this historic property in 1999. Bill is the vineyard manager and winemaker; his family has a deeply rooted history in Napa Valley dating back to 1906 when his great grandfather on his maternal side, Libero Pocai, an immigrant from Lucca, Italy purchased 60 acres of land in Napa … [Read more...]

Lewis Cellars was established in 1992 by Randy and Debbie Lewis; Debbie passed far too young in 2017 from cancer. Randy grew up in Atlanta, Georgia; his previous career was in professional car racing. He competed in a variety of races including Formula Three in Europe, Formula 5000 and five Indianapolis 500 races. He is not the only former professional racer … [Read more...]

Favia Wine was founded by noted viticulturist Annie Favia and her husband and wine maker, Andy Erickson. Wine making was not their initial career paths - Andy (originally from Indiana) majored in Political Science at Tufts University with an emphasis on Latin American policies while Annie majored in French Literature at George Washington University and was … [Read more...]

Domaine Carneros is a winery that one won't easily miss seeing while driving through the Carneros region of Napa Valley. The winery looks very European and is perched high on a hill, so it is easily seen from the well-traveled Highway 12. As a result, weekends combined with good weather can make for a very busy tasting experience. We have visited many times; … [Read more...]

Lail Vineyards was founded by long time Napa Valley vintner Robin (Daniel) Lail and her family. Robin's history in Napa Valley is significant and deeply rooted. Her great-grand uncle was Gustave Niebaum the founder of Napa's iconic Inglenook Winery. Her father was John Daniel, Jr. (died at age 63 in 1970) who inherited Inglenook winery from his father, also … [Read more...]

Ehlers Estate is located about 2 miles north of St. Helena on the east side of Highway 29 on Ehlers Lane. This location is in the heart of the north part of Napa Valley, is quite scenic and well removed from the often-busy wine strip of Highway 29, especially to the south of St. Helena. As a result of their historic setting, intimate tasting experiences and … [Read more...]

Black Cordon was founded by the husband wife team of David and Karen Dunphy with their first vintage from 2007. Both are from Minnesota. David has been a self-admitted "wine geek" since the age of 18. His wine journey began with French wines, followed by Spanish bottlings and then wines from Italy. His epiphany wine was a 1969 La Tache he acquired for $12. … [Read more...]

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) … [Read more...]

Pott Wine (Aaron, Claire & daughters) was started by long time Napa winemaker Aaron Pott. He and his wife Claire own several sizable and rugged pieces of land on Mt. Veeder. Their first property (76 acres) was purchased in 2004, a former prune orchard at about 1600 feet. They started with only 1/3 of an acre of vines and later planted out a total of … [Read more...]