Buehler Vineyards Inc.

Based around six miles east of the Napa Valley’s St. Helena, up a winding road, Buehler Vineyards is an historic, family run estate that benefits from its isolated, hillside position. It’s the source of some of the best value wines you’ll find in the Napa Valley.

The winery was founded in 1978 by John and Helen Buehler – John was a retired US army colonel, and World War Two veteran. That puts it in the older category of Napa Valley wineries: out of the thousand-or-so commercial wineries in Napa Valley today, just 70 were producing wine in 1979.

In 1982, they hired a 25-year-old winemaker called Heidi Barrett, who worked at the estate until 1988. She went on to be the consultant winemaker at Dalla Valle and for the first vintages at Screaming Eagle, eventually being dubbed “the first lady of wine” by Robert M Parker Jr. Her connection with Buehler undoubtedly helped put the estate on the map in the 1980s and 1990s.

The estate is based in the mountains above Conn Valley, and near the base of Howell Valley, with their vineyards planted predominantly to Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s warm here, and the wines have a generosity about them, without being overwrought. Surrounded by forests, they’ve had to install a high deer fence around the property, due to the damage that kept being inflicted on the vineyard.

It’s now the third generation of the family at the helm, and the wines remain something of an anomaly: an isolated estate in the Napa Valley, that remains excellent value for money. They’re well worth seeking out.