The vineyards for the winery were planted by W.S. Keyes on the La Jota land grant in 1880. This land produced a Claret which actually garnered a Paris gold medal in 1900, seventy-six years prior to the famed judgment of Paris. The history and lineage of these vineyards, part of Napa’s early winemaking history, inevitably led the American Viticulture Association to recognize Howell Mountain as the first AVA within the Napa Valley AVA. The thirty-five year old vines are rooted between 1700 and 1825 feet above sea level. With elevation comes climate change; every 1000 feet will have an effect of one to three degrees per hour, per day. Perched at this altitude on wind-swept slopes, these vines look down at the fog line and consequently receive more hours of sun exposure at cooler temperatures. Combine these factors with fast- draining, decomposed volcanic ash (also known as Tuff) and the resulting terroir delivers smaller clusters with smaller berries, which creates wines with both definition and structure. In 2011, the rains and cool weather posed challenges to both bench land and valley floor vineyards. However, as a result of this struggle, the vintage produced a wine of definition and finesse that can only be created when mother nature throws the vines a curveball.