Napa Valley’s winemaking history dates back to the mid-1800s, with many wineries opening and producing a variety of wines. Prohibition and grape pests caused many to close, but some have been preserved as “ghost cellars” – either renovated and still operating or repurposed as private homes, shopping malls, or businesses with traces of their winemaking past. Guided tours of Napa’s ghost wineries are available.
A ghost cellar is a relic of Napa Valley’s thriving late 1800s wine culture. Napa Valley is today widely recognized as one of the world’s premier wine regions, with a number of notable wines and winemakers originating from this region of California. Many people are surprised to learn that Napa Valley’s winemaking history long predates the infamous Judgment of Paris in 1976, when Californian wines on the rise beat out a number of popular French wines in a blind tasting.
The cultivation of wine in Napa Valley really began in the mid-1800s, with a huge number of wineries opening from 1860 to 1900 and producing a wide range of wines. However, Napa’s wine production began to falter in the early 20th century, first due to Prohibition and then due to the Depression. The wineries have also struggled with grape pests that have decimated some crops. Many wineries were forced to close their doors and their equipment and facilities were left to decay until the 1970s as Napa Valley’s wine industry was renewed and some people made efforts to preserve the rich history of the region’s wineries.
A ghost cellar can take two forms. The first is that of an active winery. A working ghost cellar has often been substantially renovated and might resemble its 1800s counterpart in name only, with new equipment, aging caves, and facilities. A handful of working ghost cellars still have older vines, and some have retained outbuildings and equipment from the 1800s as curiosities. Some even use the original cellars to age and store special edition wines.
The number of operating ghost wineries is estimated to be in the dozens, including such establishments as Hall Winery, Storybook Mountain Vineyards, Château Montelena, and Franco-Swiss Winery near St. Helena. It is possible to participate in a guided tasting of Napa’s ghost wineries, and such tours can be very interesting, for those interested in the history of California wines and California in general.
Most commonly, a ghost winery is no longer a winery. Some private homes in Napa Valley are actually converted wineries, as are some shopping malls and businesses. While these structures no longer produce wines, traces of the past can sometimes be discovered, especially in the case of renovations in which the site’s winemaking tradition has been preserved. For example, some companies located on the site of a ghost winery have preserved wine barrels and pressing equipment.
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