Napa’s Nested AVAs : Saint Helena
“Overall for me, the big one-word description of this AVA is diversity, Diversity of soil and microclimate, of planted varieties, of winery size, of price point, of wine style, and wine culture.”
- Philippe Melka Proprietor of Melka Estates
“St. Helena wines represent the best of what can be done in Napa Valley.”
“That early fog burn-off, and the subsequent sunshine, when properly managed in the vineyard, allow for beautifully ripe fruit (in our case, never too ripe) which retains its acids well, allowing us to craft wines of great core strength with freshness and vivacity,”
-Beth Novak Milliken, President & CEO, Spottswoode
The St. Helena AVA is named after the town and mountain with the same name within the larger Napa Valley AVA, but originally the town of St. Helena was a Native American village inhabited by the Wappo people who are thought to have lived in the area since as early as 2000 B.C. The original name of the village was "Anakotanoma", which translates to "Bull Snake Village." The nearby mountain, Mount St. Helena, was originally named "Kanamota" or "Human Mountain" by the Wappo people. Later, the mountain was named "Mount Mayacamas" by Spanish colonists, but finally it was named Mount St. Helena by a Russian survey party who climbed the peak in 1841. To memorialize their visit, they left a plaque at the top of the mountain that was inscribed with the date and the name of Princess Helena de Gagarin, the wife of their commanding officer Alexander G. Rotchev at the former Russian outpost of Fort Ross in Sonoma County. The area in which the modern town of St. Helena is located was originally part of the Rancho Carne Humana land grant, which was given to Dr. Edward Turner Bale in 1841 by General Mariano Vallejo as payment for his services as "Surgeon-in-Chief of the Mexican Army." When Dr. Bale died in 1849, his family started to sell off portions of the vast land grant.
The modern town of St. Helena was founded by Henry Still, who purchased 126 acres of land in 1855. From Dr. Bale’s Widow. This original property was located on the west side of the county road in between Sulpher creek and the future Madrona avenue. Lots were given for free to anyone willing to start a business.
The town was offically incorporated on March 24, 1876 and shortly after the first railroad reached St. Helena. Some of the first grapevines in the area were planted by George Belden Crane in 1860 and by 1874 his winery was producing over 500,000 gallons of wine per year. Charles Krug also founded his winery in 1861, which is now the oldest wine estate in Napa Valley.
The St. Helena AVA was offically recognized in 1995 and today the town of St. Helena is the center of the St. Helena AVA which is comprised of over 400 vineyards planted with over 6800 acres of grapevines. In this hour-glass shaped AVA the Mayacamas and Vaca mountains almost join together, creating the narrowest part of the valley. This means that heat gets reflected off the mountain sides and there is minimal influence from the bay, so it gets quite warm. In addition to this, the run-off from the Mayacamas and the Vaca mountains combine to create many different soil types, creating a huge tapestry of growing opportunities giving real minerality to many of the wines.
St Helena showcases the climatic differences between the northern and southern ends of the Napa Valley. The southern part of the valley abuts San Pablo Bay, meaning that more southern AVAs like Carneros and Oak Knoll District are cooled by the famous San Francisco Bay fog, as well as ocean breezes from the bay. The ocean's influence gradually fades with each increase in altitude and distance from the ocean, so St Helena receives very little benefit from this climatic phenomenon. Consequently, St Helena is one of Napa's warmer appellations, surpassed only by Calistoga, which lies even further up the valley. This makes it well suited to producing rich, structured red wines from the key Bordeaux varieties, as well as Californian favorite Zinfandel.
For close to 90 years, The Model Bakery has been part of the Napa Valley culinary scene, providing discerning and hungry residents and valley visitors the best breads, pastries and coffee house at the original location on Main Street in St. Helena. Karen Mitchell, once a successful caterer in the Napa Valley, has been the proprietor of The Model Bakery for nearly 30 years.
Today’s Model Bakery specializes in artisan breads made with organic stone ground flours and the highest quality ingredients as well as a complete range of pastry products. Karen’s daughter, Sarah, works with her mother as managing partner of the bakery and both are dedicated to authentic, artisan baking traditions.
In January 2008, The Model Bakery opened its second location in the Oxbow Public Market, incorporating state-of-the-art equipment and ovens to continue to create their world-class breads and baked goods. Both locations also offer delicious, daily breakfast and lunch specials for dining in or take out. In addition, the Napa Oxbow location also offers a “late bake” – an afternoon bake of signature breads for consumer purchase, and as a service for the region’s best restaurants.
The town of St. Helena, with a population of 5,800. It has become a destination itself. Main Street features handsome, period architecture and a wealth of (non-chain) shopping and dining options. Other attractions include the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum and Bale Grist Mill Historic State Park.
Just north of town is the Greystone campus of the Culinary Institute of America. Its huge, stone building—affectionately called “Hogwarts” by some—was built as a winery in 1899. It’s best-known wine-producing tenant was Christian Brothers, based there from 1945 to 1989. The school offers consumer classes, houses a very large and amusing collection of corkscrews, a cook’s shop, a cafe, and a restaurant
The Glass Fire was a wildfire in Northern California, that started on September 27, 2020, from an undetermined cause and was active for 23 days. The fire was named due to its origin nearby Glass Mountain Road in Deer Park, Napa (Area Between St. Helena and Howell Mountain). Initially a single 20-acre brush fire, it rapidly grew and merged with two smaller fires that expanded to 11,000 acres during the night of September 27 into September 28.
The Glass Fire was fully contained on October 20, 2020, after burning over 67,484 acres and destroying 1,555 structures, including 308 homes and 343 commercial buildings in Napa County, as well as 334 homes in Sonoma County. No injuries or deaths were reported as a result of the fire. An estimated 70,000 people were under evacuation orders in the regions surrounding the Glass Fire. CAL FIRE officials lifted all remaining evacuation orders related to the fire on October 19, 2020.
Numerous structures were destroyed in Napa, including the Foothills Adventist Elementary School. Additionally, the fire destroyed or damaged 31 wineries, restaurants, and lodges in the region, including the famous 41-year-old Chateau Boswell Winery near St. Helena. California's oldest resort, the White Sulphur Springs Resort, and The three-Michelin-starred The Restaurant at Meadowood.
St. Helena offers the best of all thing Napa. For me, I find myself drawn to the slow pace, small town-feel that St. Helena has. Like the Christmas decorations that adorn the town in December. But it’s so much more than that. St. Helena hosts world-class cuisine with restaurants offering true farm-to-table menus with local ingredients. There is breath taking scenery, where vineyards meet rolling mountains lined with redwoods. Then there is the wine, St Helena is full of incredible hidden gems. That is why I love St. Helena so much. It’s one of those choose your own adventures in wine country, where you can do as much or as little as you want. I always suggest a stop at Hall Winery, from their iconic art structures, to their state of the art grape sorting, its a great place to explore.
Hall’s Refurbished Bergfeld building, one of Napa’s original wineries
Hall’s Estate Vineyard
Hall’s Bunny Foo Foo
"St. Helena is the historic heart of Napa Valley, with several vineyards and wineries being established here in the late 1800’s. Situated within ancient alluvial fans, St. Helena’s distance from cooling influences of the San Pablo Bay gives us less diurnal shift. This results in early ripening Cabernet Sauvignon that is wonderfully fruit forward, with sleek tannin and balanced acidity."
- Megan Gunderson, Hall Wines
Highway 29 Through St. Helena
Elm Tree Tunnel
St. Helena Grape Variety
Mount Saint Helena