Why you should visit boutique Napa wineries
This blog post covers the best boutique wineries in Napa, California.
Boutique Napa wineries offer incredible wines at off the beaten path locations. They also offer unique wine tasting experiences.
Maybe you’d like to taste wine straight from the barrel? Or maybe you want to chat with the winemaker? If so, boutique wineries are for you.
And what’s better than a boutique winery in Napa? Napa Valley is a must-visit destination for wine lovers. You have to go at least once in your life (preferably more!). The Napa Valley is large so it’s best to focus on one place. You could explore the hills of St. Helena or walk the streets of Yountville in the heart of Napa Valley.
This post focuses specifically on Napa the town. Napa is the center of Napa County, California. Downtown Napa boasts a riverfront promenade, numerous restaurants, and beautiful architecture like the Napa Valley Opera House. The boutique Napa wineries on this list are located a short drive from downtown Napa.
Here are the best Napa Valley wineries near Napa for people who favor exceptional wines, unique blends, personal wine tastings, and off the beaten path places.
What defines a boutique winery?
A “boutique” winery is a small winery with limited production. Boutique wineries generally produce fewer than 10,000 cases of wine per year (although there’s no official number). They are typically family-owned and operated. This small size and tight-knit management generally leads to a focus on quality over quantity.
It’s typical for the owner and winemaker of a boutique winery to literally have a hand in every step of the winemaking process. And it’s not unusual for guests to chat with the winemaker or staff who are directly involved in making wine.
Personalized wine-tasting experiences are one of the main draws of boutique wineries. Plus, in my experience, the high-quality handcrafted wines made by boutique wineries just taste better than mass produced wines.
How to access boutique Napa wineries
Boutique Napa wineries are easy to access if you have a car.
But first, I want to clarify something. This blog post is about Napa, which is a small town located in Napa County in the Napa Valley of California. The word “Napa” is often used as a shorthand for “Napa Valley.” But when I say “Napa” in this blog post I’m referring to the small town specifically – not the entire valley generally. Just to be clear.
In order to explore boutique Napa wineries you’ll need a car. You can fly into a nearby airport, rent a car, and drive to Napa, California. Once you reach Napa, you can easily drive between the wineries on this list. Most top wineries are located quite close to town.
Napa, California is about a 90 minute drive from San Francisco International Airport (SFO). If you’re driving directly from San Francisco (the city, not the airport) it’ll only take 65 minutes to reach Napa. Or you can fly into Oakland. Napa is an approximately 70 minute drive from the Oakland International Airport (OAK).
Once you reach the charming town of Napa, it’s a reasonable drive to other well-known wine towns such as Healdsburg and Yountville. Yountville is a short 18 minute drive from Napa. And Healdsburg is a 70 minute drive from Napa.
The best boutique Napa wineries for a wine tasting
The hidden gems on this list offer guests a more personalized and intimate wine tasting experience. Plus wine. They offer lots of exceptional wine.
Crosby Roamann
Crosby Roamann is a family-owned winery with a small tasting room outside of downtown Napa.
Founders Juliana Arvai and Sean McBride are partners in wine and life. Their vision for Crosby Roamann began in Brooklyn and blossomed in Napa after they moved across the country with their two young daughters.
Their Napa tasting room’s industrial chic space is the perfect place to try their single vineyard Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, and Sauvignon Blancs.
They offer several different wine tasting options. The “Barrel Tasting Experience” is a barrel tasting followed by a seated tasting of five wines plus a cheese plate. “The Tasting Salon Experience” is an hour-long tour and tasting rolled into one. “The Chocolate Tasting Experience” pairs five wines with chocolate truffles from a Napa Valley chocolatier. Guests can add caviar or a cheese and charcuterie board to their tasting.
This small family-run operation requires reservations.
Ashes & Diamonds Winery
Ashes & Diamonds Winery is modern, airy, and (dare I say) hip.
This winery sees themselves as a “love letter to Napa Valley as it was when it took the world stage in the 1960s.”
Their wine and their architecture has a mid-century flavor. The zig-zag roof and porthole windows are hallmark shapes of California mid-century modern design. Their tasting room resembles a modern startup office more than a classic Northern Californian winery.
Ashes & Diamonds Winery wants customers to know that they’re not like other wineries and, as a result, they attract a younger crowd.
Their focus on hipness makes sense. Kashy Khaledi was a multimedia and advertising executive at MTV, Live Nation, and Capitol Records before he founded this winery. Khaledi recruited an all-star lineup to help build his winery. Steve Matthiasson of Matthiasson Wines and Dan Petroski of Massican and Larkmead came on board to make wine. After Petroski departed Diana Snowden Seysses of Snowden Vineyards joined the project.
Brian Roettinger, who designed the album cover for Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail, designed the wine bottle labels. Even the name is unusual; Khaledi named Ashes & Diamonds Winery after a 1958 Polish war film by the same name.
They offer a Cabernet Franc, a Chardonnay, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, and some single vineyard Carnet Sauvignons. Ashes & Diamonds Winery is fresh and different and it’s a great way to see a different side of Napa. It’s quickly become one of the most popular wineries, and it might just become one of your new favorite wineries.
Etude Wines
Etude Wines is another one of Napa’s hidden gems.
Located in the Los Carneros AVA, Etude Wines produces wines that reflect the region’s unique terroir. Their Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon wines are praised as balanced and complex.
Etude Wines offers four main types of wine tastings. The “Terroir Experience” is an hour-long wine experience focused on how regionality and soil differences express themselves in wine. Guests can sample single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon wines.
The “Study of Pinot” tasting focuses on (you guessed it) Pinot Noirs. Last but not least, “Discover Etude” is the perfect way for guests to try a broad spectrum of Etude wines, from Pinot Noir to Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.
If you’re looking for delicious wine (specifically delicious Pinot Noir) then Etude Wines is a solid option. They recommend appointments but are open to same day visitors.
Judd’s Hill Winery
Have you ever met someone who’s got it all? They’re good looking, cool, and nice? That’s Judd’s Hill Winery.
Judd’s is a wonderful combination of family, art, and wine. At this family-owned winery every family member expresses themselves artistically, either through poetry, painting, or music.
They also approach wine with an artistic eye. First of all, the wine labels are beautiful. For example, the “Founder’s Art Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2018” features a painting by founder Art Finkelstein. And, as Judd’s Hill Winery poetically writes, “the ephemeral art inside the bottle” is “crafted through thoughtful winemaking and artful blending.” Basically, the wine itself is art.
Guests who are looking to try this liquid art can book one of three experiences. There’s the “Terrace Tasting,” which is a classic wine tasting. The “Wine & Food in Balance” experience teaches you how to pair wine with food. And the “Blending Experience” teaches guests how to create a Bordeaux-style blend with various varietal wines.
This family-run operation is perfect for small groups of six people or fewer. Be sure to make a reservation.
Bouchaine Vineyards
Bouchaine Vineyards is a family-run operation praised for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. They apply biodynamic farming and sustainable practices to their land in the Los Carneros AVA.
Bouchaine has a long and rich history. In the late 1800s a man named Boon Fly first planted grapes on the property. Years later Gerret and Tatiana Copeland purchased the historic property. Today, Bouchaine Vineyards is the oldest continuously operating winery in Carneros.
Bouchaine Vineyards offers three main wine tasting experiences. The “Terrace Tasting” includes a flight of five wines at a seated tasting overlooking the estate vineyards. The “Garden Wine Tasting” in their beautiful gardens allows guests to choose four wines from Bouchaine’s wide selection.
Third (and most interesting) is the “Vine to Vessel” tasting where Bouchaine offers wine aged in various vessels like acacia barrels, French oak casks, concrete eggs, and clay amphorae. Reservations are required.
Covert Estate
Covert Estate is one of the hidden gems of Napa… literally.
The name “covert” comes from the winery’s position. Their tasting room sits underground between the vineyard and the oak grove and is only visible from above.
Winemaker Julien Fayard applies French finesse to California grapes. Under his direction, Covert Estate uses traditional Bordeaux winemaking techniques adapted to the California winemaking culture. They stay connected to the vineyard and manipulate the wine as little as possible.
This small winery in the Coombsville AVA enjoys a special terroir. The soil is a mixture of volcanic ash, cobblestone, and rich loam soil. Fog often covers the vineyard, which makes for cool temperatures. The unusual soil, the cooler temperatures, and a long ripening period all contribute to Covert’s great wine.
Covert Estate is open by appointment only. It’s one of the best wineries for guests who want a personalized tasting experience.
Baldacci Family Vineyards
Baldacci Family Vineyards is renowned for its single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon wines. As the name “Baldacci Family” suggests, this winery is a true family-run operation.
Michael Baldacci, a second-generation vintner, crafts limited production wines from three Napa Valley AVA regions: Calistoga, Los Carneros, and the Stags Leap District. They grow their grapes using organic and sustainable methods.
Guests can choose between four different wine tastings. There’s the “Estate Tasting,” which samples three of their single-vineyard estate-grown wines plus two Cabernet Sauvignons. The “Cave Tour & Estate Tasting” is exactly that – a tour of the wine cave plus the estate tasting.
The “Winemaker’s Collection” experience combines a private tour, barrel tasting, and a private tasting of several Cabernet Sauvignons from different years. But the best of all might be the “Wine & Chocolate Tasting,” which includes chocolates from local maker Flourish Chocolate.
Most of their exceptional wines are single-vineyard, estate-grown wines. They work with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Gewürztraminer. They make a few red blends as well as a traditional method brut sparkling wine.
This small family farm produces the kind of fine wine that makes people flock to Northern California. If you’re looking for an intimate tasting experience, this is definitely worth a visit.
Other Napa Valley areas to explore
Downtown Napa wineries are within easy walking distance of one another
This list of the best boutique Napa wineries explores vineyards spread throughout Napa’s rolling hills. But what if you’d rather walk to a tasting room?
Our list of the best downtown Napa wineries covers over two dozen tasting rooms. These businesses located in the heart of downtown Napa are all within easy walking distance of one another.
Yountville and Healdsburg are within easy driving distance of downtown Napa
Once you reach Napa it’s a reasonable drive to other well-known wine towns such as Healdsburg and Yountville. Check out our posts on Yountville wineries and Healdsburg wineries if you’re looking for another California wine adventure.
Popular Napa wineries that did not make our list
Boutique Napa Valley wineries offer an intimate and personalized wine tasting experience. But if you’re looking for wineries on a grander scale, look to the most popular wineries in the Napa Valley. Here’s a quick list:
You could visit Cliff Lede Vineyards in Yountville, Far Niente Winery in Oakville, or Frog’s Leap Winery in Rutherford. Calistoga, California is home to Chateau Montelena and Castello di Amorosa.
Another wonderful wine town is St. Helena, California. It’s home to wineries such as Alpha Omega Winery, Ehlers Estate, Ballentine Vineyards, David Arthur Vineyards, Del Dotto Vineyards, and Spring Mountain Vineyard.
