Virginia and Wayne Snowden with Scott and Randy at the property in 1956.

    Oral history speaks of great red vintages prior to Prohibition: ripe fruit with high acids, low pH, and rich varietal character. There is no exact record of the original extent of the vineyards at the Snowden Estate. However, there are several places in what are now deep woods where the hill rows of forgotten vineyards and orchards can be seen among massive tree trunks.  From what we can tell, vineyards were first planted on our property in the late nineteenth century.

    Prohibition resulted in most Napa Valley vineyards being replanted to "traveling" varieties of grapes that were durable enough to be shipped to other parts of the country, where people would make them into wine in their homes. At our property, the vineyards moved from Zinfandel to Palomino, Petit Sirah, and Carignane. Also, the orchards were expanded -- particularly prunes. We have been told that prior owners operated a small, outdoor distillery near the old house pictured above at the west end of the property.

    When Wayne and Virginia Snowden acquired the property in 1955, there were fewer than 7 acres of vineyard, together with some 6 acres of prunes, walnuts, plums, and peaches. The grapes were sold to local cooperative wineries, where they went into the two great cuvees of the day: mixed white and mixed black.

    The Snowdens began to expand the vineyards in 1962. Cabernet Sauvignon was first planted on the property at that time, using cuttings from the Fay vineyard in what would later become the Stags Leap District. The new plantings were "dry farmed," except for a small amount of water transported up the hill for the young vines in garbage cans tied into the back seat of a 1952 Oldsmobile two door convertible.

    Wayne Snowden died in 1977 and grape production was minimal for the next few years. Scott and Randy Snowden-Wayne and Virginia's son's-assumed responsibility for the vineyards in 1981. At that time, we removed all of the then-producing vineyards and orchards and replanted them to Cabernet Sauvignon. That vineyard is now called "The Brothers Vineyard" and was the first to acquire budwood from the new Jordan vineyard near Healdsburg.

    For almost a decade, all of our grapes were sold to Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. During that period, we worked closely with Warren Winiarski, owner of Stag's Leap, and his viticultural consultant, Danny Schuester, on the trellising, training, and cropping of the vineyard, tracking cultural variables and correlating these to wine quality. During this time, we began working with John Gibson, who was Warren's associate winemaker.

    We produced our first vintage of Snowden in 1993. John, who had been working with our fruit since our vineyard was replanted, became our winemaker. He has since moved on from Stags Leap Wine Cellars and is now an independent winemaking consultant.

    During the ensuing ten years, we continued to sell a portion of our grapes to our friends at Silver Oak Wine Cellars, Frank Family Vineyard, and Viader. Commencing in 2003, we retained all of our grapes for our own use.