Charles Krug Winery

The first commercial winery in Napa Valley, founded in 1861 and owned by the Peter Mondavi family since 1943. The estate sits on the east side of Highway 29 about a kilometre north of town. The original 1881 redwood Carriage House and the late-19th-century stone wine cellar are National Register of Historic Places sites and frame a wide lawn used for summer concerts and tastings.

The tasting room is in the restored Carriage House and pours estate Cabernets and Bordeaux blends; the more ambitious Vintage Selection tasting is held in the historic cellar. Reservations are needed in season. Worth visiting both for the wine and as one of the most direct connections to the foundational history of California viticulture.

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A story
Charles Krug, who founded the winery in 1861, also taught his neighbour Jacob Beringer the trade, and the press he built remained in continuous use into the 20th century. The Mondavi family bought the bankrupt estate at the end of Prohibition in 1943, and the brothers Robert and Peter ran it together until a famous family feud in 1965 sent Robert off to start his own winery down the road.

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