Grgich Hills Estate (formerly Grgich Hills Cellar) is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

located in Rutherford,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the heart of the

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on January 27, 1981. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier ...

. The winery changed its name in 2006 when it first began producing only "estate grown" wines made from

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

s grown exclusively in

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s owned by the winery. The

Napa Valley Wine Train The Napa Valley Wine Train is a privately operated excursion train that runs between Napa and St. Helena, California. Much of the rail line parallels State Route 29 after leaving the City of Napa and passes the towns of Yountville, Rutherfor ...

has a passenger stop located at Grgich Hills Estate. Grgich Hills' vineyards are

certified organic Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products, in the European Union more commonly known as ecological or biological products.Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/ ...

and biodynamic and it converted to

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

in 2006.

History

The colors in the winery's first sign reflect the winery was born on July 4, 1977.

Winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to deter ...

Mike Grgich Miljenko "Mike" Grgić (born April 1, 1923) is a Croatian-American winemaker in California. He was born into a winemaking family in the town of Desne on Croatia's coastal region of Dalmatia. He is notable for being the winemaker behind the 197 ...

had gained international recognition at the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 when the

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

he produced at

Chateau Montelena Chateau Montelena is a Napa Valley winery most famous for winning the white wine section of the historic "Judgment of Paris" wine competition. Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay was in competition with nine other wines from France and California und ...

won first prize among white wines. Grgich and Austin Hills (of

Hills Brothers Coffee Hills Bros. Coffee is a maker of packaged coffee, founded in San Francisco. History The company has its origins with the sons of shipbuilder Austin Hills (1823-1905), who was born in Rockland, Maine, and ran a business in California building c ...

) soon became business partners and established Grgich Hills Cellar on July 4, 1977. The name ''Grgich Hills'' does not describe a

geographical feature A feature (also called an object or entity), in the context of geography and geographic information science, is a discrete phenomenon that exists at a location in the space and scale of relevance to geography; that is, at or near the surface of E ...

but is instead a combination of the names of the winery's founders.

Wines

The winery's very first

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

was the winner of the 221-entry Chardonnay Shootout with wines from around the world. It was conducted by Craig Goldwyn, wine critic of the Chicago Tribune in 1980. Judges were mostly wine educators from around the nation gathered for the annual convention of the Society of Wine Educators.

References

External links

Grgich Hills Estate
website {{Coord, 38.469819, -122.432606, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Food and drink companies established in 1977 Wineries in Napa Valley Companies based in Napa County, California 1977 establishments in California