{"id":3029,"date":"2025-06-29T15:11:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T15:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=3029"},"modified":"2025-06-29T15:11:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T15:11:44","slug":"storybook-mountain-vineyards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=3029","title":{"rendered":"Storybook Mountain Vineyards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are fashions in cars, clothes and cosmetics.\u00a0 And there are fashions in wine, even in the popularity of wineries to visit.\u00a0 When we first started visiting Napa Valley, there were not nearly as many wineries as there are today.\u00a0 And not all of them were open for tasting.\u00a0 The top attractions were names like Mondavi<\/a>, Chandon<\/a> and Heitz.\u00a0 Small, out-of-the-way wineries were barely talked of.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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The view from Storybook Mountain winery.  Photo courtesy of NapaValley.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those in the know, mostly West Coast friends would tell us, \u201cIf you get as far as Calistoga, you must<\/em> go to Storybook Mountain winery\u201d.  Frankly, it sounded more like a ride at Disneyland than a winery.  So we went and we liked it very much.  It is hard to call Storybook a forgotten winery, especially since they have been making wine there since 1883.  But people no longer whisper its name anymore, so we will speak of it, out loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storybook isn\u2019t exactly off<\/em> the beaten path, but it is at the northern end of it, four miles north of Calistoga.  Go only a little further and you\u2019re in Knight\u2019s Valley.  It\u2019s way up in the hills, perhaps why it\u2019s not so well known these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name of the winery is a story in itself.  It was started by a German immigrant named Adam Grimm, who was soon joined by his brother Jacob.  So: the Brothers Grimm, hence the storybook.  Their label is a fox trying to reach up to some grapes, which is an Aesop fable not a Grimm fairytale.  But you get the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The ancient caves at Storybook Mountain.  Photo courtesy of Crafted Brands.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Prohibition, the winery was abandoned until a scholar named Jerry Seps bought it in 1976.  From the outset, they planted Zinfandel and that\u2019s the grape used in the wines for which Storybook is best known.  They make four of them plus a Zin ros\u00e9.  They also have a Cabernet Sauvignon and a single white wine, a Viogner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the great attractions in visiting Storybook is the beauty of the place.  All visits include a tour and a tasting.  The caves survived from the times of the Grimm brothers.  The land is surrounded by a redwood grove, which is part of the tour.  The views from Storybook \u2013 it is a mountain \u2013 are ravishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come to Storybook for the wine and the views, but also appreciate the history.  It isn\u2019t only that the land was producing wine grapes for over 100 years.  This vineyard has roots (pun intended) in Europe but also in the revolution in American winemaking that began in Napa Valley in the 1960\u2019s and 70\u2019s.  They served Cabernet Sauvignon at that famous taste-off in Paris in 1976, so Storybook couldn\u2019t have been there.  But they have had their wines served at White House dinners and they were among the first, along with Ridge and Trefethen, to see the potential in the Zinfandel grape for wine greatness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So take the tour, enjoy the views and sip the wines, knowing that you are partaking in a story (also intended) that goes back deep into Napa Valley\u2019s past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are fashions in cars, clothes and cosmetics.\u00a0 And there are fashions in wine, even in the popularity of wineries to visit.\u00a0 When we first started visiting Napa Valley, there were not nearly as many wineries as there are today.\u00a0 And not all of them were open for tasting.\u00a0 The top attractions were names like … Continue reading Storybook Mountain Vineyards<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3033,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029\/revisions\/3033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}