Priest Ranch Wines

Priest Ranch Wines is a downtown Yountville tasting room that gives visitors access to wines from the vast Somerston Estate, one of the largest contiguous properties in Napa Valley at 1,682 acres. The Priest Ranch label was launched in 2004 to produce wines from specific blocks of the Somerston property, creating a portfolio that showcases the diversity of a single massive estate. The downtown Yountville location makes these wines accessible to visitors who want to taste without making the drive to the remote eastern hills where the vineyard sits.

The Priest Ranch wines are sourced from the Somerston Estate, which spans elevations from the valley floor to 1,500 feet on the Vaca Range. This extraordinary vertical range encompasses multiple soil types, microclimates, and growing conditions, allowing the winemaking team to produce wines of genuine diversity from a single property. The Cabernet comes from the warmer, lower blocks, while the Grenache Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc come from cooler, higher-elevation sites. The estate's 200 planted acres represent a fraction of the total property, with the rest preserved as wilderness.

Winemaker Matt Reid crafts wines that demonstrate the range of the Somerston property. The Cabernet Sauvignon is bold and concentrated, reflecting the warm eastern-hill terroir. The Grenache Blanc, one of the few examples of this Rhone white variety in Napa Valley, is aromatic and textured, showing the potential of the estate's cooler sites. The Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and food-friendly, and the red blends combine lots from different elevations for wines of complexity.

The tasting room on Washington Street in Yountville is casual and walk-in friendly, with a small bar and outdoor seating that captures the village's relaxed atmosphere. The staff are knowledgeable about the Somerston Estate's scale and diversity, and can explain how the different elevations and exposures contribute to each wine's character. The $45 fee is moderate for the Yountville address and includes the full portfolio.

Priest Ranch demonstrates that a single massive estate can produce wines of surprising diversity when the terrain encompasses enough elevation and soil variation. The Somerston property's 1,682 acres contain more terroir diversity than most entire appellations, and the Priest Ranch label captures that range in an accessible, downtown Yountville setting.