What's a third-generation French winemaking family doing in the Napa Valley? Turning out exceptional, hand-crafted, estate wines made from traditional Bordeaux grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. The Skalli family started planting grapevines in the rolling hills of Napa Valley in 1982. In 1986, Robert Skalli acquired the estate in Rutherford, a renowned area for growing Cabernet Sauvignon and  an ideal site for a Napa Valley winery.

St. Supery winery combines the latest in winemaking technology with respect for traditional winemaking practices. Our acclaimed visitor programs and winery tour give guests the rare opportunity to experience  Napa Valley vineyards first hand and oversee all winery operations, and have access to a series of engaging exhibits on Napa Valley and its wines in our gallery

FIRST HARVEST

The first grapes were crushed in the new St. Supéry winery during the 1988 harvest. In 1990, we opened our doors to visitors. We've come a long way since then. Please visit us in Napa Valley and let us show you our hospitality.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME

The original home on the Rutherford estate, a historic landmark Victorian called "Atkinson House" after its original owners, is now a living museum of Napa Valley a century ago. A French winemaker named Edward St. Supéry lived in the Atkinson House then, and left the legacy of his evocative name for our new winery.

Fortunes were made and lost in the Napa Valley during the 1800's. Europeans arrived, land grants were given, California achieved statehood, and the local wine industry was born. St. Supéry's Atkinson house was a product of a boom and a victim of a bust by the turn of the last century.

Two brothers from Philadelphia, Joseph and Louis Atkinson, built the house in 1882, just before building a winery nearby that today is known as Beaulieu Vineyard. The Napa Valley wine industry grew rapidly in the late 1800's.

Several setbacks to the burgeoning Napa Valley wine business ensued. First, a root louse called Phylloxera that fed upon and killed the grapevines decimated the vineyards.

Then ensued decades of disaster: economic recession, World War I, Prohibition, the Depression, World War II and a general dearth of wine drinking culture in America combined to quell the industry's progress until the 1960's. Phylloxera returned in the 1990's, but that's another story.

The Atkinson House survived all these challenges. Learn more about Napa Valley wine pioneers, including the brothers Atkinson and Edward St. Supéry on a guided tour of our Winery Estate. For a preview, check out the Visit St. Supéry section.