![]() Hamden was the Howard Backen of the times. The red barn was built in 1884 by noted winery designer Hamden McIntyre who was in part responsible for the Greystone building (currently occupied by the Culinary Institute of America), Eschol Winery, (now owned by Trefethen Family Vineyards) and the Niebaum Estate. ![]() Not all his wine was made from grapes on site he purchased grapes from other area vineyards including from Chiles Valley. His property was 175 acres and in addition to 140 acres of wine grapes also grew hay and grain. Wines from Adamson Winery were represented at the Mechanic’s Fair in San Francisco in 1887 and at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889 and ultimately were awarded medals. Wine was made on site from 1884 until 1896 when phylloxera destroyed the vineyards. This historic property used to be home of the Adamson Winery (named after its founder Christian P. Larry sold his interest in Frog’s Leap Winery in 1993 a year later John leased what is now the current location of Frog’s Leap Winery and soon after that purchased the property from the owners of Freemark Abbey Winery. Not able to afford grapes for their first harvest John and Larry sold their motorbikes to finance their initial wine making efforts! This original Frog’s Leap Winery location used to be a commercial frog farm in the late 1800s and is partly the inspiration for the name. Helena (the winery is still there but is not open to the public). The wine was initially made at what is now a Turley Wine Cellars owned production facility several miles north of the town of St. ![]() Winemaker Julie Johnson became their first employee in 1984 (later she founded Tres Sabores Winery near St. Several years later they decided to make wine commercially their first vintage was 1981 with a 700 case production of both Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel with grapes purchased from Spottswoode Winery in St. Larry, the founder of Turley Cellars and brother to well-known winemaker Helen Turley and John made their first barrel of wine from grapes they sourced from Stag’s Leaps Wine Cellars. John also made wine at Glenora Winery in New York State and later was the head winemaker at Spring Mountain Vineyards in Napa Valley.įrog’s Leap Winery was founded by John and his wife at the time, Julie, and Larry Turley and his wife at the time, Jeannine. The judges in this blind tasting evaluated California versus French wines. John helped bottle the 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon which took the highest average score from the mostly French judges for red wines in the now famed Paris Tasting of 1976. Co-founder John Williams (is still the owner & winemaker) came to Napa Valley in 1975 from upstate New York where he was raised on a dairy farm John became the first employee for Warren Winiarski at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Some intriguing more modern day Napa vintner history played an integral role in the founding of the winery. Due to demand for tastings and or tours, all visits are strictly by appointment. There are no highly visible winery signs so one has to look carefully for their sign painted on the white picket fence in front of their driveway. Frog’s Leap Winery was founded in 1981 and is located on site of the old Adamson Winery in the Rutherford Appellation of Napa Valley.
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