Ultimate Guide to the Cave Winery: Napa Edition
Posted at 09:48h
in Blog
The cool quiet of Napa wine caves is alluring. You become fully immersed in the intimate environment of some of the best wines in the world, and are closer than many consumers will ever be to one of the most critical periods in the life of a wine – the aging process.
Davis Estates’ premier Napa wine cave tour experience is where deep tradition meets state-of-the-art, custom technology, allowing us to create and curate the best Napa wines from our 11,000 square foot system of wine caves.
In Napa, we aren’t alone among wineries who use and host estate Napa wine caves. While this isn’t a comprehensive list of our neighbors that have wine caves, these are some that should definitely be on your list when you’re coming to visit us at our Calistoga estate:
Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves
Photo Credit: Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves
1445 St Helena Hwy, St Helena, CA 94574
Mon – Fri: 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Sat – Sun: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Del Dotto has sourced their wine from AVA vineyards over many years, and showcases them in their stately wine caves, offering guests a guided tour and barrel tasting. The winery’s caves are reminiscent of a Venetian estate, with faux candlelight all around and chandeliers above head.
The winery also has a long-standing, separate location with a historic cave tour, though it’s currently closed through May 2023 – keep an eye out though.
Hourglass Winery
Photo Credit: Hourglass Winery
4208 Silverado Trail N, Calistoga, CA 94515
Open Daily: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
This Calistoga-based winery is unique in many ways, not the least in its wine cave.
Dedicated to two prime Napa vineyards, Hourglass has curated a “nature-inspired modernism” through its unique, contemporary winery style, with the estate pointing to the utility and craft behind the natural beauty of Napa’s wines.
Jarvis Estate Winery
Photo Credit: Jarvis Estate Winery
2970 Monticello Rd, Napa, CA 94558
Open Daily: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Napa’s Jarvis Estates offers a tour of their 45,000 square foot wine cave, which includes a look at their “Cuve Gallery,” a room dedicated to large, custom oak vessels for special aging, as well as the underground waterfall, used for temperature and humidity regulation, and, last but not least, an intimate, seated tasting experience in a separate chamber.
Joseph Cellars Winery
Photo Credit: Joseph Cellars Winery
4455 St Helena Hwy, Calistoga, CA 94515
Open Daily 10:00 am – 3:30 pm
Joseph Cellars includes a walking wine cave tour that boasts an included tasting of five wines, cheese, and charcuterie. Please note that this cave experience, though notable, is reserved for Joseph Cellars members only.
Palmaz Vineyards
Photo Credit: Palmaz Vineyards
Open By Request Only
This winery’s wine caves are among the most extensive in the valley, with levels cut 18 stories deep into the bedrock of nearby Mt. George. Palmaz leverages a unique departure from the gravity flow winemaking methods of traditional European cave wineries, amalgamating the natural methods with high-tech architectural and equipment modifications.
Pine Ridge Vineyards
Photo Credit: Pine Ridge Vineyards
5901 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558
Open Daily: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
With views of the pines and the Palisades from its surface level, Pine Ridge offers a guided tour of their Old-World-inspired wine caves. The tour concludes with a cave tasting of their limited release, estate Cabernet Sauvignons.
Porter Family Vineyards
Photo Credit: Graham Nelson
1189 Green Valley Rd, Napa, CA 94558
Open to Members Only
Porter Family vineyards has a members-only wine cave and tasting available, featuring their 17,000 square foot underground winery and wine caves. The hill in the middle of their estate vineyard belies this extensive system, with a mix of traditional gravity-flow and modern winemaking technology right beneath the rows of vines.
Pride Mountain Vineyards
Photo Credit: Pride Mountain Vineyards
4026 Spring Mountain Rd, St Helena, CA 94574
Wed – Sun: 10:00 am – 3:30 pm
CLOSED Tues
Pride Mountain Vineyards is picturesque for its 23,000 square feet of wine caves that wind underneath their winery hillside, ending in an outdoor terrace with vineyard views. The grounds also feature many spots for a picnic, such as near the historic on-site ruins with picnic tables – and a tree swing – nearby.
Schramsberg Vineyards
Photo Credit: Schramsberg Vineyards
1400 Schramsberg Rd, Calistoga, CA 94515
Open Daily: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Schramsberg is one of the long-standing of the valley, known for their sparkling wine tastings. The winery in Calistoga features multiple experience options, including a cave tour and tasting, reserve wine and cheese pairing, or a private tour and custom-arranged wine tasting. They also have seated tastings (no caves) at their sister winery, Davies Vineyards.
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Photo Credit: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
5766 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558
Open Daily 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Of Napa fame for its excellent wines, Stag’s Leap has uninterrupted views of the nearby Stag’s Leap Palisades, from which it takes its name, as well as an estate wine tasting and cave tour, featuring a sampling of their iconic wines in a modern, comfortable setting.
The Premium Napa Cave Tour at Davis Estates
Imagine: the cool sloping walls of a wine cave lined with rows and rows of barrels of the finest Napa Cabernet – you can almost feel the fermentation,
If you’re lucky enough to have a barrel tasting , like in our Davis Estates wine cave experience you’ll taste the wine in the midst of its transformation – something only winemakers and proprietors usually have access to. The wine will never taste like this again, and will hint at the greatness of the vintage to come.
Our estate is open to all who love wine; and the experience of the best Napa wine and food tasting is perpetuated exclusively for our members. Be sure to request an experience ahead of time here.