St. Helena
A historic wine town at the valley's narrowest point, home to Charles Krug and one of Napa's densest concentrations of wineries.
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Frank Family Vineyards
A family-owned Calistoga winery on Larkmead Lane known for sparkling wine, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a histori…
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Destiny Wine Tours
Private, chauffeur-driven wine tours take visitors between Napa Valley wineries without having to handle the driving. Owner a…
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Blue Diamond Jeweler
A Napa Valley jeweler on 1st Street offering custom design, engagement rings and wedding bands, watches, and estate buying, w…
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Meritage Resort
California wine country's largest resort, spanning 36 acres on Bordeaux Way with vineyard-view rooms and suites, multiple on-…
View Profile →St. Helena is where Napa Valley narrows down to its tightest point, squeezed between the Mayacamas and Vaca ranges into a corridor that's barely a mile or two wide in places. The AVA that takes the town's name was established in 1995, but St. Helena's wine history goes back much further -- Charles Krug founded his winery here in 1861, one of the very first in Napa County and still operating today.
That narrowness shapes the whole district. With less flat valley floor to work with than districts further south, St. Helena's vineyards run right up against the base of the surrounding hills, planted on a mix of valley-floor and lower-slope ground. The soil is predominantly loam with good water retention, though gravel content varies significantly from one site to the next -- a function of how close a given vineyard sits to the historic paths of Napa's various creeks and runoff channels coming down off the hills.
St. Helena runs warm -- a classic Mediterranean climate with summer highs that regularly reach the mid-90s -- and the surrounding hills do some work sheltering the district from the more extreme wind and fog patterns found in more open parts of the valley. That warmth, combined with reliably good soil drainage, has made St. Helena one of the more consistently productive AVAs for ripening red grapes fully, year in and year out.
Cabernet Sauvignon carries St. Helena's modern reputation, prized in particular for its quality and consistency, but the AVA also has real history with Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, plus Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc rounding out what's planted here. With roughly 6,800 acres under vine across some 400 vineyards, St. Helena has one of the highest concentrations of wineries of any AVA in Napa Valley -- by some counts, 93 wineries call the district home, a remarkable density packed into a town most visitors can walk across in twenty minutes.
That density is part of what makes St. Helena feel different from the wineries strung out along the open valley floor further south. It has an actual downtown -- a genuine small town with a Main Street, historic buildings, and more than a century and a half of continuous winemaking woven into its identity. Charles Krug's original winery still stands, a physical reminder that St. Helena was making serious wine long before Napa Valley had a name for the ground it grows on.
Facts sourced from TTB AVA establishment records; Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Helena_AVA)
Wineries in St. Helena
- A. Mondavi Consulting, LLC
- Abloom Wine
- Accendo Cellars
- Ad Vivum
- Alejandro Bulgheroni Estate
- Allora Vineyards
- Andrew Geoffrey Vineyards
- Anomaly Vineyards
- Apriori Cellar
- Arger-Martucci Vineyards
- Aspire Estate
- Auburn James Winery
- Axr Napa Valley
- Ballentine Vineyards
- Battuello Vineyards
- Behrens Family Winery
- Benessere Vineyards
- Boeschen Vineyards
- Bougetz Cellars
- Brasswood
- Bressler Vineyards
- C MONDAVI & FAMILY
- Calafia Cellars
- Casa Nuestra
- CHARTER OAK WINERY
- Chateau Boswell
- Chateau Potelle Winery
- Clif Family Winery
- Corison Winery
- Crocker & Starr Winery
- D.R. Stephens Estate
- Demeine Estates
- Drinkward Peschon
- Duckhorn Portfolio
- Ehlers Estate
- El Molino Winery
- Engel Family Vineyards
- FAILLA WINERY
- Faust Wine
- Fifty Five Degrees
- Forman Winery
- Fourth Leaf Wines
- Freemark Abbey
- Gibbs Napa Valley
- Hall Wines
- Harumph Wine
- Harumph Wines
- Heibel Ranch
- Hourglass
- HUNNICUTT
- Ink Grade
- JAC ONE Wines
- Jac Wines
- Jackson Family Wines (Freemark Abbey Winery)
- Jim Sweeney
- Joseph Phelps Vineyards
- Kelham Vineyards & Winery
- Kerr Cellars
- Korte Ranch Olive Oil
- Lang & Reed Wine Company
- Lawrence Wine Estates
- Levensohn Vineyards
- Lithology
- Lorenzo Wine Company
- Louis Martini Winery
- Macauley Vineyard
- Marciano Estate
- Markham Vineyards
- Merryvale Napa Valley
- Morlet Family Vineyards
- Night Wines
- Olivia Brion Winery
- Orin Swift Cellars and Winery
- Pahlmeyer
- Palazzo Wine
- Parry Cellars
- Pavi Wines
- Pellet Estate
- Pestoni Family Estate Winery
- Prager Winery & Port Works
- Predecessor Estate
- Protege Wines
- Provenance Vineyards
- Rancho Otranto
- Raymond Vineyards
- Redmon Wines
- Revana Family Vineyard
- Round Two Wines
- Sabina Vineyards
- Saint Helena Winery
- Salvestrin Winery
- Sinegal Estate Winery
- Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery
- St. Clement Vineyard
- St. Helena Winery
- Stanton Vineyards
- Stormy Weather Wines
- Sutter Home Wines
- Tate Wine
- The Napa Valley Reserve
- The Saint Wine Lounge
- The Vice Wine
- The White Barn
- Thorn Hill Vineyards
- Titus Vineyards
- Trespass Vineyard
- Trois Noix Wine
- Trujillo Wines
- Tudal Winery
- V Madrone Vineyard
- V Sattui
- Varozza Vineyards & Winery
- VGS Chateau Potelle Winery
- Vice Versa Wines
- Wheeler Farms Winery
- William Cole Vineyards
- Wilson Daniels
- Yao Family Wines
- Young Inglewood Vineyards
- Zakin Family Estate