Oakville is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in the of

Napa County Napa County () is a County (United States), county north of San Pablo Bay located in the Northern California, northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 138,019. The county seat i ...

, northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The population was 71 at the 2010 census. Oakville's ZIP Code is 94562, and it is located in

area code 707 Area codes 707 and 369 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northwestern part of the U.S. state of California. The area codes serve part of the northern San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the North Coast. ...

. The local economy is based on Napa Valley wine production, and Oakville was formally declared a distinct

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

within the

Napa Valley AVA Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...

in 1993. There are currently 24 wineries and over of vineyard located within the boundary of the

Oakville AVA Oakville is an American Viticultural Area located within Napa Valley AVA and centered on the town of Oakville, California. The appellation extends over a flat expanse of well-drained gravel soil between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. Oak ...

, among them are the

Robert Mondavi Robert Gerald Mondavi (June 18, 1913 – May 16, 2008) was an American winemaker. His technical and marketing strategies brought worldwide recognition for the wines of the Napa Valley in California. From an early period, Mondavi promoted label ...

Winery, the Opus One Winery, and wineries of Heitz Wine Cellars and Screaming Eagle.

History

Oakville started life in the 1860s as a

water stop A water stop or water station on a railroad is a place where steam trains stop to replenish water. The stopping of the train itself is also referred to as a "water stop". The term originates from the times of steam engines when large amounts ...

for the

steam train A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomoti ...

owned by The Napa Valley Railroad Company. The railroad, founded by early California pioneer

Samuel Brannan Samuel S. Brannan (March 2, 1819 – May 5, 1889) was an American settler, businessman, journalist, and prominent Mormon who founded the '' California Star'', the first newspaper in San Francisco, California. He is also considered the first to ...

in 1864, shuttled tourists between ferry boats that docked in Vallejo to the resort town of Calistoga. The village gained its name from the dense groves of dark green valley oaks of the area. H. W. Crabb turned Oakville from untamed country to wine country after his 1868 purchase of close to the

Napa River The Napa River is a river approximately long in the U.S. state of California. It drains a famous wine-growing region called the Napa Valley, in the mountains north of the San Francisco Bay. Milliken Creek and Mt. Veeder watersheds are a f ...

. Crabb established a

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

and

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

naming it ''To Kalon'', which in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

means "the beautiful." By 1877 Crabb had planted and was producing 50,000 gallons of wine per year and by 1880, his vineyard had increased to . In 1903 the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production ...

established an experimental vineyard station in Oakville. This vineyard known as "Oakville Station" is operated by the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. Formally declared a Napa

in 1993 there are currently 24 wineries and over of vineyard located within the boundary of the

. The

Winery is located between Oakville and

Rutherford, California Rutherford is a census-designated place (CDP) in Napa County, California, United States. The population was 115 at the 2020 census. Rutherford is located in the Rutherford AVA (American Viticultural Area) which is located in the larger Napa ...

(though its corporate headquarters are in nearby

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

). To Kalon was part of Mondavi's original inventory when it was established in 1965. Another Mondavi venture in Oakville is Opus One Winery. Heitz Wine Cellars' Martha's Vineyard is also located within the Oakville appellation. Modern day tourists traveling on State Route 29 often include a stop at Oakville Grocery, one of the area's few non-winery business, in order to purchase picnic supplies. The Napa Valley Wine Train runs through Oakville on the same route that the original steam train ran on in the 19th century.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP covers an area of 1.4 square miles (3.5 km), all of it land. Historically, Oakville has been the location of a lode of quicksilver.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that Oakville had a population of 49. The population density was . The racial makeup of Oakville was 24 (49%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0 (0%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1 (2%) Native American, 0 (0%) Asian, 1 (2%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 12 (24%) from other races, and 11 (22%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 25 persons (51%). There were 29 households, and the average household size was 1.69. The median age was 51.5years. There were 37 housing units, of which 29 (78%) were occupied. Of these, 8 (28%) were owner-occupied, and 21 (72%) were occupied by renters.

Government

On the Napa County Board of Supervisors Oakville is in District 3 and is represented by Diane Dillon. In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, Oakville is in , and in . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Oakville is in .

References

External links