Gallica

Rosemary Cakebread is something of a Californian winemaking legend. In 2024, she made her forty-fourth vintage, and her eighteenth as the owner and winemaker at Gallica, a small-yet-perfectly-formed winery in Napa Valley’s St. Helena.

Tokyo born-and-bred, moving back to California in her teens with her parents, Rosemary studied at UC Davis, and her resumé includes such California luminaries as Spottswoode and Inglenook. She’s married to Bruce Cakebread, of his eponymous estate, but they’ve never worked together. Indeed, Cakebread and Gallica are run totally independently.

It was after a year working for Michel Rolland at Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol that she decided to start her own winery in 2007. She named it Gallica after Rosa gallica, one of the first roses cultivated in Europe, committing to wines that are fragranced and pure.

With no ostentatious tasting room, visits on appointment only, and an annual production of just 1,500 cases, Rosemary is happy to let her wines do the talking. This is a Napa estate that challenges preconceptions. Indeed, investment is focussed on the vineyards, which are farmed organically, a method she first encountered while working at Spottswoode. 

Her Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are sourced from the Oakville Ranch Vineyard, near the cellar, on volcanic red soils at an elevation of 250-400 metres above sea level, which brings vibrancy and freshness to the wines alongside the region’s power. She also sources Grenache – something of a passion project, and a grape variety she loves – from the Sonoma Valley, from the clay-loam soils of Rossi Ranch. The resulting wines, of all varieties, are some of the most refined, perfumed – harking back to the name of the estate – and balanced that we’ve come across.