Rutherford · Est. 1979
Our Story
VINEA began with a single neglected hillside and a stubborn belief that Rutherford could speak more softly than its reputation suggested.
- 1979
A hillside in Rutherford
In the years after the 1976 Judgment of Paris turned the world toward Napa, the Hale family acquired forty overgrown acres on the western benchland of Rutherford. The first seasons were spent clearing, grafting and learning the land far more than making wine.
- 1984
The first estate vintage
Five years of patience produced the first wine to carry the VINEA name — a Cabernet of fifteen barrels, sold mostly to friends. It was enough to know the hillside had something to say.
- 1998
Down to the valley floor
A second parcel in cool Carneros gave the estate its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and, eventually, its sparkling wine — the green, maritime counterpoint to the warmth of the Rutherford bench.
- 2009
Certified organic
Under the second generation, every estate block was farmed organically and certified. Cover crops, owl boxes and far less intervention became the house style, in the cellar as much as the vineyard.
- Today
Small lots, shipped with care
VINEA remains family-run and deliberately small. We make a handful of wines, welcome guests to the terrace, and pack every bottle by hand for the journey to your door.
In the cellar
Less, done
better
Native yeasts, gentle handling, neutral and new oak in careful measure. We intervene as little as the vintage allows, so each wine tastes of its place rather than its winemaking.
Explore the winesCome taste it at the source
Our terrace in Rutherford is open most of the week. Stay a while.
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