Ancien Wines is a boutique producer (under or around 5,000 cases a year) previously based at the historic Haynes Vineyard in Coombsville, east of the city of Napa. They have been producing high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay since their first vintage in 1992. Their inaugural vintage was merely a 100+ case production of a Pinot Noir from four rows in … [Read more...]

Fotinos Vineyard. A vineyard under at least fifty years of family ownership is fairly rare in Napa Valley; two brothers, George and Tom Fotinos purchased a former prune orchard in Carneros in 1969, and soon after planted their property to grapes. In the early 1970s Carneros was not known for its grapes rather it was home to a number of sheep and cattle … [Read more...]

Heitz Cellar maintains a tasting salon located almost directly across from Hall Winery on Highway 29 slightly south of the town of St. Helena. This tasting room opened in 2002 and is on the location of the original Heitz Winery which was founded in 1961 by Joe (passed away in 2000) and Alice Heitz. Heitz Cellar is one of the older continuously operating … [Read more...]

Givich Vineyards. Founder Ken Givich was born and raised in San Francisco. Wine was a part of life through his European heritage; his mother's side of the family was originally from Spain and his father's side of the family from Croatia. Both of his grandparents made wine. He studied microbiology at UCLA, continued his studies at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo … [Read more...]

LJ Crafted Wines was founded in 2015 by Lowell Jooste and his wife Anne; both are originally from South Africa. Lowell is fourth generation wine family - his relatives have been involved in the South African wine business for decades. His father Duggie purchased Klein Constantia in 1980, one of South Africa's most historical vineyard properties. Dating back … [Read more...]

Sylvie Estate was founded in 2010 by Henry and Christina Lopez and their friend and business partner, Brian Atwood. Henry is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico and Christina is from the San Francisco Bay Area. They purchased a small plot of land on the lower hills of the Vaca mountains in 1989 and built a small pueblo architecture styled house. They … [Read more...]

Kaiser Family Winery was founded by Rick and Theresa Kaiser (no relation to any of the Kaiser businesses). Rick grew up in Long Island, New York and met Theresa while both were working at what is now PricewaterhouseCoopers (created in 1998 by a merger between Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse). Both are practicing CPA's. Rick recalls drinking mostly … [Read more...]

Carte Blanche Wine was founded and is owned by Nicholas Allen. Nicholas's interest in wine grew during college at the University of Denver. He remembers building a small cellar at his first house in Washington Park and simultaneously nurturing an interest in food including hosting dinner parties. He was the 'resident cork dork' as he puts it. The first … [Read more...]