Snowden Vineyards

Grapes have been grown on this ranch, on the eastern slopes of the Napa Valley, since 1878. By 1891 some sixty acres were producing Zinfandel, Malvoisie and Chasselas. However, 64 years later, when the Snowden family purchased the ranch, just seven acres remained, of Petite Sirah and Palomino or Chasselas. As with so many vineyards in California, the site had been decimated by phylloxera, prohibition, depression, and war.

The family started replanting some Cabernet Sauvignon from the 1960s, and in the 1980s most of the grapes were sold to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. By working with the team at this legendary estate, the vineyard was optimised for quality growing.

In 1993, the Snowden family started to retain a small portion of their production for estate-specific wines, made by the family. They continue to sell to friends like the producers Ramey and Silver Oak, but retain more and more of their production themselves. Today it’s Diana Snowden Seysses – wife of Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac – who makes the wines here, dividing her professional time between Burgundy and the estate since 2005.

While the property is 160 acres, just 23 acres are planted to vineyards, farmed organically, with the rest of the ranch wild woodlands. With more Cabernet Sauvignon planted than anything else, the wines from Snowden Vineyards are a sophisticated expression of the grape, from Napa Valley’s hillside sites.

Meanwhile, the Snowden cousins – the third generation here – have started working with a high-altitude site in the Santa Cruz Mountains, farmed biodynamically, to produce a merlot made with no new oak, native yeasts, and minimal sulphur. The focus here is on sustainability, and the packaging comes with no metal capsule, a cork closure, and a washable label so that the glass bottle can be cleaned and refilled.