Just north of the town of Napa, where the valley’s earliest vineyards were planted in the 1800s, is Trefethen Family Vineyards. Their historic wooden winery, built in 1886, stands sentinel over vast plantings of perfectly trellised grapevines.
Gene and Katie Trefethen purchased this old winery and the surrounding vineyards in 1968. The winery was in a state of disrepair and their son John and his bride, Janet, took the challenge of restoring the old winery to become one of Napa’s foremost wine producers. In 1973, Trefethen released their first commercial wine.
Success came early when, in 1979, their Chardonnay was chosen “Best Chardonnay” in the world at the Gault-Millau World Wine Olympics in Paris. In recent years, the winery has reached similar success with their red wines including being voted the “Best Red Bordeaux Varietal in North America” at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2007 and Robert Parker appraising their red wines as “very impressive.”
True to the family’s vision of creating an acclaimed wine estate, they have grown every grape for every bottle of Trefethen. Knowing that being great stewards of the land is paramount to crafting expressive and complex wines, each vine is tended with the utmost of care.
Today, the Trefethen family’s third generation, Loren and Hailey, assist their parents in continuing the family tradition of passion for the land, its people, and the art of crafting exceptional Napa Valley wines.
Trefethen Family Vineyards
1160 Oak Knoll Avenue
Napa, CA 94558