Providing a delightful one-day itinerary that leads from the plains of Carneros to the hills of Calistoga, The Heritage Wine Trail makes touring and tasting through the Napa Valley easy, with a full-day package that includes a complete itinerary of tours and tastings at four iconic wineries and a gourmet picnic lunch—all for just $99 per person. At each winery, guests are treated like VIPs, with behind-the-scenes tours, special tastings, and more.
The tour day begins at Acacia Vineyard in the heart of the Napa portion of the Carneros AVA. Perched on a hilltop surrounded by premier estate vineyards planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the winery overlooks wild marshland with stunning views of San Pablo Bay in the distance. Acacia was founded in 1979, well before Carneros achieved AVA status, and was one of California’s first wineries to focus on single-vineyard Pinot Noir. Today, Acacia is known widely as a true pioneer in Carneros and one of its largest landholders. The intimate tasting room allows visitors a full view of the barrel room, where elegant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir ages gracefully in French Oak.
Guests on The Heritage Wine Trail are greeted warmly and given the lay of the land through helpful maps and useful information shared by their tasting room host. Then they’re taken on a private tour of the winery, through crushers and fermenters and on to the vineyards. Strolling there, guests can see for miles and often feel the ocean breeze that caresses the precious grapes. Although it’s acclaimed far and wide for its stellar wines, Acacia remains a boutique winery whose approach allows for precision, clarity, and true varietal expression.
Guests travel The Heritage Wine Trail at their own pace and it’s hard to leave Acacia, but there is more! After stopping at Oakville Grocery for a box lunch, there’s Beaulieu Vineyard, Hewitt Vineyard/Provenance Vineyards, and Sterling Vineyards, each offering a unique experience and many exquisite wines to try.
An Interview with Beaulieu Winemaker, Jeffrey Stambor
T&T: As Director of Winemaking for the longest continually operating winery in Napa Valley, you have quite a remarkable heritage to uphold. How does this feel?
JS: The tradition of the winery is one of the things that’s made me want to stay here so long. I feel like I’m part of something much bigger than one winery. The legacy of Beaulieu is very important to the development of the entire Napa Valley. Many people don’t realize that in the winery’s more than 100-year history, there have only been four winemakers, including the great André Tchelistcheff. But at Beaulieu, it’s not as much about who the winemaker is as it is about the house character of our wines. Each winemaker has spent a significant amount of time working with his predecessor, ensuring that the legacy is passed on. As the current winemaker, I strive to maintain the winery’s heritage by consistently creating wines that are elegant, yet at the same time powerfully expressive of their terroir.
T&T: Is it hard to find a balance between maintaining the Beaulieu legacy and technological advancement?
JS: I don’t think of technology and art as opposing elements. At Beaulieu, we use technology to aid artistic expression. I rely on technology to precisely execute repetitive tasks so each task is performed exactly as I envision it with no margin for error. This is different than using technology as an artistic expression.
T&T: You’ve been at Beaulieu for 25 years. Does anything continue to amaze you?
JS: Absolutely! I’m amazed by the people, the families, and the collaborative relationships I discover. There are the longstanding friendships, like the one I have with André’s widow, Dorothy, the Sullivan family, who are descendants of Georges de Latour—the growers who have been delivering fruit to the winery long before I was here. There are also the relationships I have with colleagues who contact me to collaborate. It’s an honor to be part of Beaulieu and everything it stands for.
An Interview with Acacia Winemaker Matthew Glynn
T&T: To what do you owe the elegant style and superior quality of Acacia wines?
MG: We’re scrupulous with our grapevine selection. Then we farm them with care and apply focused winemaking to ensure successful vinification and bottling.
T&T: How does it feel to be the winemaker behind Acacia’s famous wines?
MG: As a winemaker, I’m glad our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines are so well received. I am extremely passionate about the wines I have made and have not yet had the chance to make. My love for wines of France’s southern Rhône Valley and northern Italy is stronger than ever.
T&T: It seems like Acacia is producing more single-vineyard wines every year. Why?
MG: Vintage 2006 provided the opportunity to bottle eight lovely barrels of Pinot Noir from a southern-facing slope in the southwestern hills of the Russian River Valley appellation. In the years following, I have had the honor to vinify and bottle wines from several fabulous vineyard sites on both the eastern and western slopes of Sonoma Mountain, in the Sonoma Coast appellation, and throughout the Russian River Valley. These wines complement our estate vineyards in Carneros where Acacia was founded. Fans of our wines can’t seem to get enough—they love the beauty that each site brings to the table.
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Take an Adventure With Your Spouse on the Heritage Wine Trail
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