Charles Krug: Napa's Oldest Winery

Just north of downtown stands Charles Krug Winery, the oldest operating winery in the Napa Valley. Charles Krug was a German immigrant, born in eighteen twenty five, who had already made wine elsewhere in California before he came here. In eighteen fifty eight he produced what is often called the first commercial wine in Napa County, using a small cider press.

Three years later, in eighteen sixty one, he planted his own vineyard at Saint Helena and built a modest cellar, and that founding date is why the estate claims the title of Napa's pioneer winery. Krug did more than make wine. He mentored a generation of younger vintners, championed better techniques, and helped turn a frontier valley into a serious wine region.

In eighteen eighty two his estate opened what is remembered as California's very first tasting room. Krug died in eighteen ninety two, and the winery passed through hard times during phylloxera and Prohibition. Its modern chapter began in nineteen forty three, when the family of Cesare Mondavi bought the property.

For four generations the Mondavis have run Charles Krug, and it was here that a young Robert Mondavi learned the trade before leaving to build his own famous winery down the valley. When you taste at Krug today, you are drinking from the deepest roots in Napa.