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Author: Gail Unzelman

Wine Postcard Stories: Napa Valley’s Knoll-Top Wonder: Sterling Vineyards Winery

As you approach the upper end of Napa Valley, an alabaster-white monastery-like structure comes into view sitting atop a wooded knoll rising from the valley floor two miles south of Calistoga. This is Sterling Vineyards Winery, called the most spectacular winery in America when it was completed in 1973. It was the biggest new winegrowing venture in Napa County, with a six-million-dollar investment in the future of premium table wines.

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Wine Postcard Stories: Paul Masson Winery – From Historic Hilltop To The Vast Valley Floor

“Pioneer California Winemaker, lavish host, astute businessman, celebrated judge of fine wines, Paul Masson made his name famous by producing champagnes and table wines which held their own anywhere. Gourmet, bon vivant, raconteur, connoisseur, with an ardent eye for a handsome woman, flamboyant at times and eccentric at others, thrifty in the Gallic tradition, he transplanted much of his native Burgundy to his adopted California … a great Californian, a great gentleman and a great wine grower. ” — John Melville.

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Wine Postcard Stories: Headquarters For Wine Country Postcards, St. Helena: Joe Galesky

Since the young days of Napa Valley wine country, St. Helena has been the bustling hub of Upper Valley. The many wineries of our historical lore began planting vineyards and building beautiful stone wineries around the 1880s. The phenomenon of picture postcards celebrating the wonders of the Valley didn’t come along until the turn of the century in the very early 1900s. In Calistoga, ten miles north of St. Helena, master photographer I. C. Adams
(1874–1960) had arrived in Calistoga as a young boy in 1882. A well-loved figure in Calistoga history, he was not only a successful photographer (1903–1950), but “a celebrated musician, historian, philosopher, poet, and more.” His real-photo postcards of the Geysers, Mt. St. Helena, surrounding vineyards and local wineries are wine country treasures. And in St. Helena, there was Joe Galewsky, photographer, publisher and purveyor of local postcards.

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