Snowden Vineyards
About
We want the subtle flavor profiles of terroir and season to show through and highlight our wines. While each wine is unmistakably a child of the Snowden site, we never try for twins, preferring to explore the unique character each vineyard site and each vintage bring. Our grapes are always picked by hand, sorted meticulously.
Location Description
Located in the heart of Saint Helena, California.
Additional Information
- Meeting / Conference Facilities:
- Caves:
- Wedding Facilities:
- Picnic Facilities:
- Dog Friendly:
- Winery Tours:
- Wine Tasting:
- Art or Architecture:
- Organic / Biodynamic:
- Awards:
- Wine Club:
- Lodging / Bed & Breakfast:
Average Bottle Price
$ 60.00
Winemaker
Our winemaker, Diana Snowden Seysses, shepherds grapes to glass with the goal of celebrating the character of our unique site and the seasonal variations of each vintage. Her winemaking approach emphasizes extreme care but is as “non-invasive” as possible. She ferments all of our wines with native or “wild” yeasts; she does not add enzymes to dissolve the skins; nor does she chaptalize; or “bleed” the must; or “cook” the must to force extraction; we press out our wines when they have fermented dry, rather than continuing to macerate on the skins and seeds for long periods; we don’t “spin” or centrifuge our wines; or sterile filter; or “flash oak”; or reverse osmose; or leave residual sugar at the end of fermentation; or add sugar back after fermentation is complete.
History
Late in California’s Gold Rush, one Levi Philander Davis (1835-1881) moved to Sierra County in California from his native Ohio to set up a mining camp at Indian Hill. He subsequently relocated to Sacramento where he met Lucretia Ella James. The couple married and in 1878 came to the Napa Valley. Attracted to the hills on the east side of the valley, they filed under the Homestead Act of 1862 for ownership of a 160 acre parcel at the end of what was then called Spring Valley Road. The Homestead Act promoted the settlement of new areas, allowing prospective farmers to acquire land by filing for ownership, paying a small fee, and then perfecting title by occupying and farming the property. The Davises planted the first wine grapes on the ranch in 1878 and by 1880 had cleared 75 acres for vineyards and orchards. Following Levis’ death in 1881, Lucretia sold the property to Melchior Kemper, who continued to plant the cleared areas to vineyard -- by 1891, 60 acres of vineyard were producing Zinfandel, Malvoisie and Chasselas.
In the ensuing fifty years, a succession of events battered wine growing across California: phylloxera, a lethal root louse, moved through the vineyards; Prohibition outlawed the production and sale of most wines; and the Great Depression and World War II hampered the wine industry’s recovery. The Snowden ranch was not spared – by the time Wayne and Virginia Snowden purchased the property in 1955, only thirteen acres remained under active cultivation – seven acres of vineyards planted to Petit Sirah and Palomino or Chasselas; and six acres of prunes, walnuts, and apricots. Most of the remaining acreage originally planted by Davis and Kemper had reverted to woods and forests – accented by the occasional redwood grapestake and the gentle undulation of the forgotten vinerows.
Wayne and Virginia Snowden, together with their two small children, Scott and Randy, began coming to the Napa Valley for summers in 1952. The first summer, the family lived in a house on the north side of Lodi Lane on the site of what is now the Wine Country Inn. That year, Wayne and Virginia began to explore the wines of the Napa Valley -- most often visiting the two closest wineries: Domingos, a family operation that produced wine before and during Prohibition in a dirt-floored stone cellar that is now a part of Elhers Lane Winery; and Charles Krug Winery. In 1953, the young Snowden family lived in a house on Sanitarium Road above St. Helena Hospital and frequently purchased wine at nearby Souverain Cellars. Souverain was one of the earliest "new" post-Prohibition wineries, created in 1943 by J. Leland Stewart in an abandoned winery building that today houses Burgess Cellars. Through the Souverain wines, Wayne and Virginia began to explore varietals -- White Riesling, Green Hungarian, Zinfandel, Petit Sirah ... and Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1954, the family lived in The White Cottage on White Sulfur Springs Road on the west side of the valley just south of St. Helena. The White Cottage was located on the edge of the venerable Hayne Zinfandel Vineyard -- ancient then and, remarkably, still in production today. Louis M. Martini was the most convenient winery that summer.
After three summers, Wayne and Virginia had developed a sense of the valley and began searching for a place to own. They looked at innumerable parcels around the Napa Valley -- most of which were too expensive -- and gradually narrowed the search to two possibilities: a hill on the west side of the Silverado Trail about half way between St. Helena and Calistoga -- now the site of Rombauer Cellars -- and a larger but more remote parcel in the hills on the east side of the Silverado Trail between St. Helena and Rutherford. They eventually settled on the latter site, which they purchased in the spring of 1955 from Albert Amasa Eisan and his wife Josephine. The 160 acre ranch had been in the Eisan family since Albert's mother, Jane Ellen Taylor Eisan, purchased it from Melchior Kemper in 1895. Along the south boundary of the property, Albert's uncle, Ward Eisan, owned a comparably sized parcel which was even more remote than Albert's -- access to Ward Eisan's property was through Albert's. Today, Ward Eisan's ranch is the site of Rutherford Hill Winery, Auberge du Soliel Hotel and Restaurant, Katheryn Hall Winery, and Sloan Winery.
In the early 1960s, Wayne planted approximately six acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on the site of a long-abandoned orchard at the "top of the property" -- the relatively flat area at the top of the mountain ridge between the Napa Valley proper and Conn Valley. He obtained grafting wood from Nathan Fay, who had recently developed his own vineyard in the Stag’s Leap area. Wayne had to overcome a number of challenges, including difficult dirt roads which restricted access to the vineyards, jack rabbits, which were attracted to the young shoots of new grapevines, deer, which ate the leaves of young and old vines alike, and a very limited water supply -- while the vineyard was being established, Wayne transported water to the young vines in 30 gallon garbage cans in the back seat of an old Oldsmobile convertible. Wayne’s vineyard was situated in what is today the eastern portion of The Brothers Vineyard.
Following Wayne Snowden’s death in 1977, Wayne and Virginia’s sons, Scott and Randy Snowden, assumed responsibility for the property. In 1981, they removed all of the then-producing vineyards and orchards and replanted them to Cabernet Sauvignon utilizing budwood from Jordan Vineyard near Healdsburg. Through the 1980s, they sold grapes from the resulting 11 acre vineyard -- today called "The Brothers Vineyard" -- to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. During that period, the family worked closely with Warren Winiarski, owner of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, and his viticultural consultant, Danny Schuester, to optimize trellising, training, and cropping of the vineyard, track cultural variables and correlate these to wine quality.
Beginning in the 1990s, grapes from the property went to a number of other vintners, including Silver Oak Wine Cellars, Frank Family Vineyard, David Ramey, Viader, and Caymus Vineyards. Commencing with the 1993 harvest, Scott and Randy began to retain a portion of each harvest for the production of estate-specific family wines. Gradually, an increasing amount of the grapes produced from the property were used in Snowden wines.
In the ensuing fifty years, a succession of events battered wine growing across California: phylloxera, a lethal root louse, moved through the vineyards; Prohibition outlawed the production and sale of most wines; and the Great Depression and World War II hampered the wine industry’s recovery. The Snowden ranch was not spared – by the time Wayne and Virginia Snowden purchased the property in 1955, only thirteen acres remained under active cultivation – seven acres of vineyards planted to Petit Sirah and Palomino or Chasselas; and six acres of prunes, walnuts, and apricots. Most of the remaining acreage originally planted by Davis and Kemper had reverted to woods and forests – accented by the occasional redwood grapestake and the gentle undulation of the forgotten vinerows.
Wayne and Virginia Snowden, together with their two small children, Scott and Randy, began coming to the Napa Valley for summers in 1952. The first summer, the family lived in a house on the north side of Lodi Lane on the site of what is now the Wine Country Inn. That year, Wayne and Virginia began to explore the wines of the Napa Valley -- most often visiting the two closest wineries: Domingos, a family operation that produced wine before and during Prohibition in a dirt-floored stone cellar that is now a part of Elhers Lane Winery; and Charles Krug Winery. In 1953, the young Snowden family lived in a house on Sanitarium Road above St. Helena Hospital and frequently purchased wine at nearby Souverain Cellars. Souverain was one of the earliest "new" post-Prohibition wineries, created in 1943 by J. Leland Stewart in an abandoned winery building that today houses Burgess Cellars. Through the Souverain wines, Wayne and Virginia began to explore varietals -- White Riesling, Green Hungarian, Zinfandel, Petit Sirah ... and Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1954, the family lived in The White Cottage on White Sulfur Springs Road on the west side of the valley just south of St. Helena. The White Cottage was located on the edge of the venerable Hayne Zinfandel Vineyard -- ancient then and, remarkably, still in production today. Louis M. Martini was the most convenient winery that summer.
After three summers, Wayne and Virginia had developed a sense of the valley and began searching for a place to own. They looked at innumerable parcels around the Napa Valley -- most of which were too expensive -- and gradually narrowed the search to two possibilities: a hill on the west side of the Silverado Trail about half way between St. Helena and Calistoga -- now the site of Rombauer Cellars -- and a larger but more remote parcel in the hills on the east side of the Silverado Trail between St. Helena and Rutherford. They eventually settled on the latter site, which they purchased in the spring of 1955 from Albert Amasa Eisan and his wife Josephine. The 160 acre ranch had been in the Eisan family since Albert's mother, Jane Ellen Taylor Eisan, purchased it from Melchior Kemper in 1895. Along the south boundary of the property, Albert's uncle, Ward Eisan, owned a comparably sized parcel which was even more remote than Albert's -- access to Ward Eisan's property was through Albert's. Today, Ward Eisan's ranch is the site of Rutherford Hill Winery, Auberge du Soliel Hotel and Restaurant, Katheryn Hall Winery, and Sloan Winery.
In the early 1960s, Wayne planted approximately six acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on the site of a long-abandoned orchard at the "top of the property" -- the relatively flat area at the top of the mountain ridge between the Napa Valley proper and Conn Valley. He obtained grafting wood from Nathan Fay, who had recently developed his own vineyard in the Stag’s Leap area. Wayne had to overcome a number of challenges, including difficult dirt roads which restricted access to the vineyards, jack rabbits, which were attracted to the young shoots of new grapevines, deer, which ate the leaves of young and old vines alike, and a very limited water supply -- while the vineyard was being established, Wayne transported water to the young vines in 30 gallon garbage cans in the back seat of an old Oldsmobile convertible. Wayne’s vineyard was situated in what is today the eastern portion of The Brothers Vineyard.
Following Wayne Snowden’s death in 1977, Wayne and Virginia’s sons, Scott and Randy Snowden, assumed responsibility for the property. In 1981, they removed all of the then-producing vineyards and orchards and replanted them to Cabernet Sauvignon utilizing budwood from Jordan Vineyard near Healdsburg. Through the 1980s, they sold grapes from the resulting 11 acre vineyard -- today called "The Brothers Vineyard" -- to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. During that period, the family worked closely with Warren Winiarski, owner of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, and his viticultural consultant, Danny Schuester, to optimize trellising, training, and cropping of the vineyard, track cultural variables and correlate these to wine quality.
Beginning in the 1990s, grapes from the property went to a number of other vintners, including Silver Oak Wine Cellars, Frank Family Vineyard, David Ramey, Viader, and Caymus Vineyards. Commencing with the 1993 harvest, Scott and Randy began to retain a portion of each harvest for the production of estate-specific family wines. Gradually, an increasing amount of the grapes produced from the property were used in Snowden wines.
The Team
Scott Snowden was five years old when the family first came to the Napa Valley. During high school, college, and graduate school, Scott worked summers at Hanns Kornell Cellars, Inglenook Winery, and Beaulieu Vineyard. He attended Washington and Lee University and the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He practiced law in Napa before his appointment to the bench in 1980. Scott retired as Presiding Judge of the Napa Superior Court 2005. He is now a mediator-arbitrator with the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, better known as “JAMS - The Resolution Experts.” Friends and family figure Scott is half cowboy and half lawman. He regularly quotes Bob Dylan and is a managing director for Snowden Vineyards.
Randy Snowden was two when the family arrived in the Napa Valley. He also worked summer jobs in wineries during his school years, including cellar positions at Heitz Wine Cellars (which neighbors the Snowden ranch on the west) and Robert Mondavi Winery; and in the tasting room at Beaulieu Vineyard. Randy earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of California at Davis. He practiced law in Richmond, Virginia, and Napa, California, and then went on to be the founding director of two rehabilitation programs for drug addicted teenagers – Thunder Road in Oakland, California, and The Wolfe Center in Napa. Randy was the Director of the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency from 2005 until retiring into the family wine business in late 2013. A rock bassist in his spare time, Randy is a managing director for Snowden Vineyards.
Joann Ortega Snowden is a partner in Ortega Design Studio in St. Helena where she and her twin sister, Susann, design wine labels and other graphics for wineries in the United States and Europe. Snowden Vineyards is of course among her many clients. Joann attended the Otis Art Institute and graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. She is also a landscape painter, photographer, printmaker, and animal lover. Joann lives with her husband Scott in St. Helena. Joann is a managing director for Snowden Vineyards.
Janet Snowden grew up in the Bay Area and attended the University of California at Davis. She went on to earn a Master's degree in Library Science at the University of California at Berkeley. During college, Janet worked summers at Beaulieu Vineyards. For many years a reference librarian at Kennedy Library in Vallejo, Janet retired in 2011. Today, Janet lives in Napa with her husband, Randy, and enjoys watercolor painting, contemporary literature, and fine claret-style wines. Janet is a managing director for Snowden Vineyards.
Diana Snowden Seysses is a Napa Valley native and the eldest of the four third-generation of Snowdens active in the family’s vineyard and wine enterprise. She graduated from the Viticulture and Enology program at the University of California at Davis in 2001. During and after her studies, she worked at wineries in California and France, including Robert Mondavi Winery, Mumm Napa Valley, the Araujo Estate, Fleur de Boüard, Domaine Leflaive and Ramey Wine cellars. In January, 2003, Diana became oenologist at Domain Dujac in Burgundy. Diana became winemaker at Snowden commencing with the 2005 harvest and since then has divided her professional time between California and Burgundy, where she lives with her husband Jeremy and their sons, Aubert and Blaise.
Christian Snowden grew up in Napa and earned a degree in microbiology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2001. During college, he worked as a summer cellar hand at Bridlewood Winery in Santa Ynez. In 2003 Chris served as cellar master at Frazier Winery. From 2004 to 2006 Chris was the national sales manager for Snowden Vineyards. In 2006, Chris became the Southern Calfornia regional manager for The Sorting Table when it became the national marketing agent for Snowden. He went on to obtain a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University. Today, Chris is a financial advisor at AmeriFlex, a financial services firm in Santa Barbara, California. He is also a principal in Goodland Wines, a small producer of fine wines from distinctive appellations within Santa Barbara County. Chris lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Alanna and son Dax. Alanna is the proprietor of Gracelynd Hill, a full service hunter-jumper barn.
Susanne Snowden Rorick grew up in St. Helena and attended San Diego State University. She went on to study brand strategy at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Susanne is currently engaged in graduate work in child and family therapy at the University of Southern California. Susanne has traveled extensively and frequently represents Snowden at wine presentations and events. Susanne lives in Napa with her husband, Matthew Rorick, who produces an intriguing line of wines from lesser-known appellations and varieties under his Forlorn Hope label.
Carey Snowden Harrington grew up in Napa before obtaining a degree in Spanish at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 2007 Carey became the Culinary Assistant at The French Laundry in Yountville. In 2009 she became the managing partner of Benu, a restaurant in San Francisco founded by Corey Lee, formerly Chef de Cuisine at The French Laundry. Carey commutes between San Francisco and Santa Barbara, where she lives with her husband Ryan Harrington and their daughter, Virginia. Ryan is the executive director of The Foundation for Girsh Park, which operates a multi-use community park in Goleta, California.
Severiano De Loera has been the ranch manager at Snowden Vineyards since 1994. Seve oversees year-round vineyard operations as well as new vineyard plantings. Seve grew up in Los Haro, a small, historic town near Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico. Before coming to Snowden, he worked in vineyard operations at Spring Creek Vineyards, Charles Krug Winery, and Hilker Vineyards, all in the St. Helena area. Seve and his wife, Ofelia Rios De Loera, are the owners of Cocina Severiano Catering.
Randy Snowden was two when the family arrived in the Napa Valley. He also worked summer jobs in wineries during his school years, including cellar positions at Heitz Wine Cellars (which neighbors the Snowden ranch on the west) and Robert Mondavi Winery; and in the tasting room at Beaulieu Vineyard. Randy earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of California at Davis. He practiced law in Richmond, Virginia, and Napa, California, and then went on to be the founding director of two rehabilitation programs for drug addicted teenagers – Thunder Road in Oakland, California, and The Wolfe Center in Napa. Randy was the Director of the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency from 2005 until retiring into the family wine business in late 2013. A rock bassist in his spare time, Randy is a managing director for Snowden Vineyards.
Joann Ortega Snowden is a partner in Ortega Design Studio in St. Helena where she and her twin sister, Susann, design wine labels and other graphics for wineries in the United States and Europe. Snowden Vineyards is of course among her many clients. Joann attended the Otis Art Institute and graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. She is also a landscape painter, photographer, printmaker, and animal lover. Joann lives with her husband Scott in St. Helena. Joann is a managing director for Snowden Vineyards.
Janet Snowden grew up in the Bay Area and attended the University of California at Davis. She went on to earn a Master's degree in Library Science at the University of California at Berkeley. During college, Janet worked summers at Beaulieu Vineyards. For many years a reference librarian at Kennedy Library in Vallejo, Janet retired in 2011. Today, Janet lives in Napa with her husband, Randy, and enjoys watercolor painting, contemporary literature, and fine claret-style wines. Janet is a managing director for Snowden Vineyards.
Diana Snowden Seysses is a Napa Valley native and the eldest of the four third-generation of Snowdens active in the family’s vineyard and wine enterprise. She graduated from the Viticulture and Enology program at the University of California at Davis in 2001. During and after her studies, she worked at wineries in California and France, including Robert Mondavi Winery, Mumm Napa Valley, the Araujo Estate, Fleur de Boüard, Domaine Leflaive and Ramey Wine cellars. In January, 2003, Diana became oenologist at Domain Dujac in Burgundy. Diana became winemaker at Snowden commencing with the 2005 harvest and since then has divided her professional time between California and Burgundy, where she lives with her husband Jeremy and their sons, Aubert and Blaise.
Christian Snowden grew up in Napa and earned a degree in microbiology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2001. During college, he worked as a summer cellar hand at Bridlewood Winery in Santa Ynez. In 2003 Chris served as cellar master at Frazier Winery. From 2004 to 2006 Chris was the national sales manager for Snowden Vineyards. In 2006, Chris became the Southern Calfornia regional manager for The Sorting Table when it became the national marketing agent for Snowden. He went on to obtain a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University. Today, Chris is a financial advisor at AmeriFlex, a financial services firm in Santa Barbara, California. He is also a principal in Goodland Wines, a small producer of fine wines from distinctive appellations within Santa Barbara County. Chris lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Alanna and son Dax. Alanna is the proprietor of Gracelynd Hill, a full service hunter-jumper barn.
Susanne Snowden Rorick grew up in St. Helena and attended San Diego State University. She went on to study brand strategy at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Susanne is currently engaged in graduate work in child and family therapy at the University of Southern California. Susanne has traveled extensively and frequently represents Snowden at wine presentations and events. Susanne lives in Napa with her husband, Matthew Rorick, who produces an intriguing line of wines from lesser-known appellations and varieties under his Forlorn Hope label.
Carey Snowden Harrington grew up in Napa before obtaining a degree in Spanish at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 2007 Carey became the Culinary Assistant at The French Laundry in Yountville. In 2009 she became the managing partner of Benu, a restaurant in San Francisco founded by Corey Lee, formerly Chef de Cuisine at The French Laundry. Carey commutes between San Francisco and Santa Barbara, where she lives with her husband Ryan Harrington and their daughter, Virginia. Ryan is the executive director of The Foundation for Girsh Park, which operates a multi-use community park in Goleta, California.
Severiano De Loera has been the ranch manager at Snowden Vineyards since 1994. Seve oversees year-round vineyard operations as well as new vineyard plantings. Seve grew up in Los Haro, a small, historic town near Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico. Before coming to Snowden, he worked in vineyard operations at Spring Creek Vineyards, Charles Krug Winery, and Hilker Vineyards, all in the St. Helena area. Seve and his wife, Ofelia Rios De Loera, are the owners of Cocina Severiano Catering.
Practices & Techniques
Like most all of the better vineyards in the Napa Valley, ours are pruned, trained, and harvested by hand. Each vine is visited by a skilled vineyard worker a dozen or more times in the course of the season for pruning, shoot thinning, tying, crop thinning, canopy management, weed removal, and finally harvesting.
We farm our vineyards in pursuit of the overall goal of “sustainability.” We minimize the use of chemicals and have altogether discontinued the use of Roundup or other herbicides, instead removing unwanted weeds mechanically and by hand. Once a vineyard block is established, we farm “no till,” which encourages beneficial organisms to develop a balanced and healthy ecosystem within the vineyard.
We call ourselves “stewards” of our property as a reminder of our responsibility to the woods, the wildlife, and the overall environment. When the property was first homesteaded in the late 1870s, an astonishing 75 acres of forest were cleared for vineyards and orchards. By 1891, sixty of those acres were planted to Zinfandel, Malvoisie, and Chasselas.
We farm our vineyards in pursuit of the overall goal of “sustainability.” We minimize the use of chemicals and have altogether discontinued the use of Roundup or other herbicides, instead removing unwanted weeds mechanically and by hand. Once a vineyard block is established, we farm “no till,” which encourages beneficial organisms to develop a balanced and healthy ecosystem within the vineyard.
We call ourselves “stewards” of our property as a reminder of our responsibility to the woods, the wildlife, and the overall environment. When the property was first homesteaded in the late 1870s, an astonishing 75 acres of forest were cleared for vineyards and orchards. By 1891, sixty of those acres were planted to Zinfandel, Malvoisie, and Chasselas.
Estate Vineyards / AVA
The Snowden Ranch is located on the eastern slopes of the Napa Valley between St. Helena and Rutherford. Although hillside sites like ours can appear steep and formidable from the valley floor, they often hide surprisingly level and welcoming terrain. Writing in the St. Helena Star in 1880, a reporter approaching our property from the west, put it like this:
“Those who only pass through the center of the Napa Valley have little idea of the vast room for “ranches” in the mountains on either side. What is apparently a forbidding wall of rocks is really a fertile and pleasant country, well watered with living springs and always rich enough for grapes and other fruit, with usually a little room for grain and hay. One of these little “pockets” of fertility is found by going in from the east side of the valley ...”
Our western-most vineyards – the Los Ricos Vineyard and Pool Block – are accessed by way of Taplin Road, which extends east from the Silverado Trail past the Joseph Phelps and Heitz Wineries through tiny Spring Valley. These vineyards are situated at approximately 600 feet of elevation and are within a few hundred yards of the eastern boundaries of the St. Helena and Rutherford appellations. Access to our main vineyards is by way of Rutherford Hill Road. We refer to these blocks as the Brothers Vineyard, the Lost Orchard, and the Blending Blocks. They lie at 800 to 850 feet of elevation approximately one mile east of the St. Helena and Rutherford appellations and two miles south of the Howell Mountain appellation.
Today, we farm only 23 of our 160 acres. The rest have reverted to woodlands – a mixture of Oaks, Madrone, Bay, and other hardwoods; and conifers, such as Douglas Fir. We believe this is a more reasonable balance – the grapes we raise and the wine we make from those 23 acres enable us to preserve the remaining 137 acres in a wild and natural state. During our years at the ranch, we have been pleased to share the property with mountain lions, Bobcats, coyotes, foxes, bears, bats, Piliated Woodpeckers, Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Screech Owls, Barn Owls, White Tailed Deer, raccoons, Jack Rabbits, skunks, quail, California Golden-Belly Newts, King Snakes, Gopher Snakes, Rattle Snakes, Fence Lizards, Skilton's Skinks, and innumerable other species from all of the animal classes. These animals and the woods they inhabit are the real owners of the Snowden Ranch.
“Those who only pass through the center of the Napa Valley have little idea of the vast room for “ranches” in the mountains on either side. What is apparently a forbidding wall of rocks is really a fertile and pleasant country, well watered with living springs and always rich enough for grapes and other fruit, with usually a little room for grain and hay. One of these little “pockets” of fertility is found by going in from the east side of the valley ...”
Our western-most vineyards – the Los Ricos Vineyard and Pool Block – are accessed by way of Taplin Road, which extends east from the Silverado Trail past the Joseph Phelps and Heitz Wineries through tiny Spring Valley. These vineyards are situated at approximately 600 feet of elevation and are within a few hundred yards of the eastern boundaries of the St. Helena and Rutherford appellations. Access to our main vineyards is by way of Rutherford Hill Road. We refer to these blocks as the Brothers Vineyard, the Lost Orchard, and the Blending Blocks. They lie at 800 to 850 feet of elevation approximately one mile east of the St. Helena and Rutherford appellations and two miles south of the Howell Mountain appellation.
Today, we farm only 23 of our 160 acres. The rest have reverted to woodlands – a mixture of Oaks, Madrone, Bay, and other hardwoods; and conifers, such as Douglas Fir. We believe this is a more reasonable balance – the grapes we raise and the wine we make from those 23 acres enable us to preserve the remaining 137 acres in a wild and natural state. During our years at the ranch, we have been pleased to share the property with mountain lions, Bobcats, coyotes, foxes, bears, bats, Piliated Woodpeckers, Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Screech Owls, Barn Owls, White Tailed Deer, raccoons, Jack Rabbits, skunks, quail, California Golden-Belly Newts, King Snakes, Gopher Snakes, Rattle Snakes, Fence Lizards, Skilton's Skinks, and innumerable other species from all of the animal classes. These animals and the woods they inhabit are the real owners of the Snowden Ranch.
