Stony Hill Vineyard

Stony Hill Vineyard is one of the founding estates of modern Napa Valley boutique winemaking, a property that has been producing some of California's most distinctive and long-lived Chardonnay since 1952. Founded by Fred and Eleanor McCrea, who were among the first to recognize that Napa Valley's mountain sites could produce white wines of extraordinary quality, Stony Hill occupies 38 acres of steep hillside on Spring Mountain at an elevation of 800 feet. The McCreas sold their wine exclusively through a mailing list, establishing a model of direct-to-consumer sales that the entire industry would eventually adopt.

The 38-acre vineyard is planted to Chardonnay, White Riesling, and Gewurztraminer, an unusual portfolio for a Napa Valley estate that reflects the McCreas' original 1950s planting decisions, made long before Cabernet Sauvignon dominated the valley. The Spring Mountain terroir, with its volcanic soils and cool, fog-influenced microclimate, produces white wines of exceptional acidity and mineral character. The Chardonnay in particular ages remarkably well, with bottles from the 1960s and 1970s still showing vitality and complexity decades after harvest.

Winemaker Tom Rinaldi maintains the estate's tradition of producing white wines of restraint and longevity. The Chardonnay is fermented and aged in neutral oak, a technique that was radical in the 1950s (when most California Chardonnay was made in stainless steel) and remains unusual today (when most is made in new oak). The result is a wine that expresses the vineyard rather than the barrel, with the mineral, citrus, and floral character of the Spring Mountain site dominant in every vintage. The Riesling and Gewurztraminer, produced in tiny quantities, are among the rarest and most distinctive white wines in California.

Tastings at Stony Hill are by appointment only and limited to mailing list members and serious collectors. The experience is intimate and deeply personal, reflecting the estate's heritage as one of the valley's original small-production, direct-to-consumer operations. The setting is modest and unpretentious, with the focus entirely on the wines and their remarkable history. The estate's refusal to modernize its hospitality or expand its production is itself a statement about the values that have guided Stony Hill for over seven decades.

Stony Hill's significance to Napa Valley is foundational. The McCreas proved that a small mountain vineyard could produce white wine of world-class quality, and their mailing list model became the template for the cult wine phenomenon that would transform the valley in subsequent decades. The Chardonnay, made in a style that has barely changed since the 1950s, is a living connection to the origins of modern Napa Valley winemaking and a reminder that great wine does not require great change.