Scalon Cellars. Co-founder Jesus Espinoza came to Napa Valley in 1990 and began to work in the vineyards, initially helping plant grapevines. He immediately took a job at Caldwell Winery after moving to the valley and has been working with John Caldwell ever since; he is currently Caldwell Vineyard's vineyard manager. While Caldwell was building their wine … [Read more...]

Lewelling Vineyards are an integral part of Napa Valley's rich viticulture history. Patriarch John Lewelling was born in 1811 in North Carolina and was one of 8 children. The original spelling of their family name was Lewallen. In 1850, John migrated west from Iowa to California along with thousands of others and briefly worked in the gold fields near … [Read more...]

Nickel & Nickel is a premium winery founded by Gil and Beth Nickel with their first vintage produced at Napa Wine Co in 1997: a Merlot, Zinfandel and several single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings. The Nickel's also founded Far Niente Winery in 1979. Gil was born and raised in Oklahoma; he worked for his family business, Greenleaf Nursery and … [Read more...]

Jessup Cellars was founded in 1996 by Napa native, Mark Jessup and his wife at the time Pamela. Mark began his career in wine at the age of 17 working at the grand Inglenook Estate in Rutherford and later helped craft some of the first wines at Opus One. Their first winery was on the slopes of Mt. Veeder which is currently home to Anthem Winery. Seeking a … [Read more...]

Far Niente Winery. The roots of Far Niente date back to 1871 when former gold miner in California's Gold Rush of 1849, John Benson turned farmer, acquired 300+ acres in what is now Napa's Valley's Oakville sub appellation. Incidentally John was an uncle of the famous American impressionist painter, Winslow Homer. He raised hay and grain crops as well as grew … [Read more...]

Burgess Cellars was founded in 1972 making this one of the older privately owned continuously operating wineries in Napa Valley. Burgess Cellars was owned by the Burgess family and was founded by Napa wine making pioneer Tom Burgess. Tom was a former air force pilot whose assignments included flying Project Gemini astronauts around. While he was stationed at … [Read more...]

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...]