Delicious wine and sparkling views of Napa. I know there are tons of quality wineries around that have similar offerings, but Rombauer is definitely one worth visiting. Gorgeous garden space with some cute little trails to walk along while you enjoy your wine and soak up the Napa Valley air. I prefer to go in Fall or early Spring or during the week. The servers or more relaxed and they seem to have a better time introducing you to their wines and letting you know more of the wine history. You get to sample 5 of their wines including their AMAZING chardonnay and Fiddletown Zin. These are the bottles we always end up with and they are usually priced pretty similar to what you would find in a big store (BevMo, Total Wine, etc.). Most of their pricier zins like the Fiddletown aren't sold in stores however. They give you the wine glasses as part of the tasting as well.

You will love Ackerman Family Vineyards if you have a passion for wines that reflect more of a Bordeaux style – smooth, well-structured wines that beautifully complement the food.  These are wines where the micro-climates of the region play a more predominant role in the end result.  Ackerman Family wines reveal deep berry flavors resulting from the perfect balance between soils and fruit. Are you looking to add a unique variation to your Cabernet Sauvignon choices?  This is the place!~

In the 1950s and 1960s, a renaissance in the California wine industry emerged as a group of Napa Valley pioneers recognized the region’s potential to meet the evolving tastes of American wine consumers. Among these visionaries was Jay Corley, founder of Monticello, who would go on to establish a winery that, over five decades, would produce more than a thousand wines rated 90 or higher.

Winemaking in Napa Valley dates back to the mid-1800s. The industry thrived throughout the latter part of the 19th century, with hundreds of wineries sprouting across the valley. However, the late 1800s brought devastation in the form of phylloxera, a pest that ravaged over 90% of the valley’s vineyards.

The remnants of the wine industry were further obliterated in 1920 with the onset of Prohibition, which rendered wine production and consumption illegal. Wine grapes were rendered useless for anything other than wine, leading farmers to uproot their vines and replant the valley with prunes, walnuts, and figs in a bid for survival.

In 1969, Jay Corley ventured to Napa Valley seeking land to craft exceptional wines. He acquired a prune orchard from the Prohibition era and established Monticello in 1970. True to his preference for subtlety, Jay chose not to name the winery after himself but instead named it Monticello after Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia estate, modeling the winery’s estate house after Jefferson’s Monticello, inspired by the Palladian architectural style of the Italian Renaissance.

A connoisseur of food and wine, Jay admired Jefferson’s preference for wine over ale, the popular American drink of Jefferson’s era. Jay embraced Jefferson’s belief that “Good wine is a necessity of life” and shared a passion for pairing wine with food.

Although Jay hailed from a family of farmers, he himself was a businessman who recognized his own limitations. He surrounded himself with skilled individuals necessary for producing world-class wines. Decades later, these talents have been carried on by Jay’s own children, who are involved in growing the grapes, making the wines, managing the business, and preparing the way for the third generation of the family. In an era when many of Napa’s pioneering wineries have been sold to conglomerates, Monticello proudly remains one of the few family-owned wineries in the valley.

Amici Cellars is a Napa Valley winery creating premium quality wine, and we welcome guests to our tasting room in Calistoga by appointment. At Amici we focus on quality, not quantity. Because we insist on keeping our production small, we can carefully control the process of creating each wine, crafting what we like to consider a small work of art in each bottle.