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.
Sterling Vineyards Winery, Upper Napa Valley, c1973.
Wine first came to this 300-foot volcanic knoll just after Repeal in 1933 when Charles Rockstroh bonded his 8,000-gallon winery. Following his death in 1967, Peter Newton, Michael Stone, and Martin Waterfield, executives of Sterling International, a prosperous San Francisco paper products company, purchased the hill and some of its surrounding land to build a winery named after their paper company. Winemaker Richard Forman, who had earned his master’s degree at U.C. Davis in 1968, was chosen to plan and run the new winery.
Sterling Vineyards. Hilltop Winery From The South Terrace, 1970s
The starkly beautiful Mediterranean-style white stucco winery complex was modeled after the structures on the Greek island Mykonos, where owner Peter Newton once lived. Its impressive revolutionary design was noted as the first winery in the valley to put the guest experience at the core of its architectural plan. At the time, Napa wine country was on a revitalization course, initiated by Robert Mondavi with his new winery in the late 1960s, the first major new winery in the valley since Repeal. Amazingly, Sterling was one of no more than thirty wineries in Napa County. (Dan Berger, 1988)
Sterling Vineyards Winery, Surrounding Vineyards, c1970s
The winery placed an emphasis on Bordeaux-inspired wines, with a later-added prize-winning Chardonnay. Additional vineyard lands and established vineyards were acquired over the years, the most notable being Rene di Rosa’s prestigious 250-acre Carneros property Winery Lake in 1986 when Seagram was in charge. The wine operation was sold in 1977 to Coca Cola Company who developed vineyards on Diamond Mountain to the west. Sterling had some 500 acres of vines when Seagram purchased it in 1982 and quickly expanded the acreage to 1200 acres and raised annual production to 350,000 cases. In 2001 the popular winery was purchased by Diageo; in 2016 Treasury Wine Estates added Sterling to their global list of wine labels.
Sterling Vineyards, Napa Valley. Aerial Tramway, c1970s
From the beginning, and creating somewhat of a sensation, visitors reached the hill-top winery by an aerial tramway on the Sterling gondola. Dramatic views of the entire valley winescape and nearby towering Mt. St. Helena came with the ride. Our postcard shows the original cubby-like four-person gondola; today’s sleek, state-of-the-art gondola, designed by the same renowned Austrian company as the original model, carries eight passengers and runs up and down the mountain on a newly installed system providing extensive 360-degree views. It is still the only winery gondola in the world — a one-of-a-kind scenic journey through the heart of Napa wine country.
Sterling Vineyards Wine Cellar. Ageing Wine In European Oak, c1970s
Founding winemaker Ric Forman, whose first vintage in 1969 was in a temporary facility at the foot of the hill, earned a celebrated reputation for Sterling’s fine wines and released California’s first vintage-dated Merlot. After the sale to Seagram in 1982, Forman began developing his own vineyard and winery on the lower slopes of Howell Mountain, where his fame for fine Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon surpassed his former renown. A few years earlier, principal Sterling founder Peter Newton established his own exclusive venture, Newton Vineyard, on Spring Mountain. Recognized as a pioneer in Napa Valley Merlot and best known for his “trademark” unfiltered Chardonnay, Newton lived at his beautiful St. Helena estate until his death in 2008.
Sterling Vineyards. A View Through The Cellars, c1970s
This stunning 1970s postcard preserves a view of a cellar packed with huge redwood fermentation vats that were a common and awesome winemaking sight at the time. The deep wood-y and wine-y aromas still linger in my memory. Definitely a sensation was created in 1973 when Sterling opened their new winery to the public. A magical aerial tramway ride up to a white monastery-like winery where, awaiting were a beautiful building, an instructive self-guided tour, fine wines to taste in a glass-roofed atrium, and spectacular wine country views. The scene continues to amaze.
