Vineyards

Coombsville Vineyard, Napa Valley

Renowned for wines of finesse and purity of fruit, Coombsville sits in an ancient volcanic basin in the southern region of Napa Valley. It holds a stake in winegrowing history, with some of Napa’s earliest vineyard plantings back in the 1840’s.

Today Coombsville has gained prominence with a vineyard renaissance. Its long growing season allows the grapes to develop concentrated flavors with rich aromatics and smooth tannins. It also recently won recognition as Napa Valley’s newest American Viticultural Area, acclaimed as a distinctive, important winegrowing region.

Tucked along a small creek in rocky soils, our Coombsville vineyard benefits from temperate conditions. Cooled by morning fog, then bathed in afternoon sunshine, the Cabernet Sauvignon vines develop small berries with remarkably rich flavor. In this vineyard, Nature provides a gift of superb grapes, with just a little nurturing by us. The result – incredible Cabernet Sauvignon! 

Mill Creek Vineyard, Napa Valley

The first releases of Delgadillo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon were sourced from Mill Creek Vineyard, situated on the west side of the Napa River, midway between St. Helena and Calistoga. On the gently-sloping 2 ½-acre site, Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted between 1971 and 1976.

The owners consulted the renowned UC Davis viticulture department when planting the site in the early 70s. They recommended a sparse 8’ x 12’ vine spacing (just 454 vines per acre).

The Cabernet Sauvignon was budded predominantly from Nathan Fay’s Stag’s Leap-area vineyard. Some later plants were bench grafts of unknown clones on AXR-1 rootstock. The entire site is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon.

The vineyard is meticulously hand tended. The vines are spur pruned and ladder trained to pressure treated wooden stakes. There is no trellis system. After the first 2 years of drip irrigation, the site has been completely dry-farmed. Fruit production varies with the vintage, ranging from 2.5 to about 4.5 tons, yearly.

We farm the vineyard ourselves, allowing us to tend to the grapes from bud break to bottling. Delgadillo Cellars sourced its first vintage from the site in 2001.