“The history of wine in this part of Howell Mountain is deep — some of the first vineyards were planted in the late 1800s on what had been a Mexican land grant. The wildness of the land is what drew me to the area, bucolic and remote."

What is now Napa County had been part of Mexico since 1821, but for at least 9,000 years before that it was homeland to indigenous peoples, some of whom inhabited Howell Mountain. In 1898, Frederick Hess planted grapes and founded La Jota Vineyard Company. In the 1920s Prohibition put an end to the wine industry and the La Jota acreage remained dormant for the next 35 years.

In the mid-1970s the wild and remote area was revived as a wine-growing region when Bill Smith purchased La Jota, replanting the vineyards and reviving the name. While the 1980s saw the valley grow rapidly under the spotlight of names like Robert Mondavi, the maverick winemakers in the woods like Smith and Randy Dunn established the Howell Mountain AVA. Smith went on to acquire an adjacent parcel in 1986 — what is now Almacerro. He and his wife Joan later produced wine from their homestead site until 2016 when they sold the property to Frank, telling him to “take it to the next level.”

Bill and Joan Smith put so much heart into creating the estate, and we wanted to honor that history while expanding what the vineyard is capable of. Piece by piece, we’ve restored what needed tending, revived the land with respect to the natural surroundings and embraced the property’s rustic charm. The personality of this place is in its transient imperfection and our time on the land has been focused on preserving that unique character.