Trefethen Family Vineyards is maintaining its storied legacy with a bevy of crisp, fruit-forward wines from the Oak Knoll District of the Napa Valley, including its signature Chardonnay. At the same time, it is exploring new directions like Dragon’s Tooth, a blend of Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Trefethen’s has freedom to create numerous refreshing wines because the estate sits at the southern end of Napa Valley, close to the San Francisco Bay. Every afternoon, cool winds blow across the vineyards and help the grapes maintain acidity.
“Another way we work with the environment is by building diversity into the vineyard. We grow 10 different varieties across our 400 acres of estate vineyards in the Oak Knoll District. We also have multiple clones of each variety. Our talented team farms everything in different ways as needed, for example by preserving brightness in our Chardonnay and building intensity in our Cabernet,” says Hailey Trefethen. She is a third-generation vintner, a co-chair of the Trefethen Board and an executive vice president of the winery.
Having these different varieties and clones means the grapes ripen at different times and have different qualities. Trefethen’s winemakers have had decades to refine their knowledge as founders Eugene and Catherine “Katie” Trefethen established the vineyard in 1968. Their son, John and their daughter-in-law, Janet, started the winery in 1973.
Trefethen Family Vineyards specializes in delicious, low-alcohol wines to be enjoyed with food.
“Our mother likes to say that our wines are not going to knock your socks off. They’re going to slip them off. Because of their elegance and complexity, as well as the brightness in character which results from our cool climate, Trefethen wines also last for decades,” says Lorenzo Trefethen, Hailey’s brother. Lorenzo Trefethen is also a third-generation vintner, a co-chair of the Trefethen Board and an executive vice president of the winery.
TWO WINE CLUBS, BUT MANY CHOICES
Trefethen makes a wide variety of white wines and red wines, as well as a rosé called Summer In Napa. It also grows grapes for sparkling wines, which it sells to other wineries.
The winery has two membership options. Club Trefethen is highly customizable and functions on a subscription model. The HāLo Circle, geared toward collectors, is a more traditional wine club. It features special access to Trefethen’s most coveted wines, including selections from the Library.
One standout is HāLo Cabernet Sauvignon, named for Hailey and Lorenzo. The grapes are grown in Hillspring Vineyard, which sits in the northwest corner of the Oak Knoll District in the foothills of the Mayacamas range. The 2019 release of HāLo Cabernet Sauvignon has flavors of plum and berry, layered with notes of molasses and tobacco.
There is also The Cowgirl and The Pilot, named for the love story between John and Janet Trefethen, Hailey and Lorenzo’s parents. The 2021 vintage is made from Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec grapes grown on the estate vineyard. It has aromas of black cherry and dried fig and a palate of dark cocoa.
“Mom was a Salinas rodeo sweetheart growing up. She competes at a national level in cutting to this day,” says Hailey Trefethen.
Cutting is a sport that showcases a horse’s ability to work cattle.
“Dad got his pilot’s license at 16 and grew up hanging out at the airports, washing planes in order to get flying time. We decided to pay tribute to them by blending two wines that balance one another,” says Hailey Trefethen.
Another notable red is Dragon’s Tooth, made mainly from grapes grown in the rockiest parts of the estate district vineyards. The label for this wine features the Welsh Dragon, to honor the family’s Welsh heritage. The 2021 vintage has aromas of blueberry and plum with notes of leather and molasses.
“When we were planting the Petit Verdot, we came across a scattering of obsidian shards, which, with a little imagination, looked like reptile teeth. That’s how we came by the second part of the name,” says Lorenzo Trefethen.
Bryan Kays, winemaker for Trefethen, says perfecting Dragon’s Tooth requires measuring the “intense, juicy fruitiness” of Malbec against the “insular, dark, and brooding” backbone of Petit Verdot.
“The Cabernet Sauvignon is a minor player. It rounds out these very disparate concepts that come together well,” says Kays.
THE CHARDONNAY NOTICED AROUND THE WORLD
Trefethen’s Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignons are the most well-known of its wines. This is because the 1976 Chardonnay won the title “The Best Chardonnay in the World” award at the 1979 Gault & Millau Wine Olympics in Paris and again at the rematch in Burgundy in 1980.
“No one was more surprised by (the 1979) results than our parents! They didn’t know that there was a tasting in France, much less that our Chardonnay had been entered in it. We certainly hadn’t even started exporting our wines to France yet, though we had some in the U.K. After the results were announced, as you might imagine, there were some rather disgruntled producers in Burgundy, who demanded a rematch. The following year, at the Palace of the Dukes and Estates of Burgundy, the judges retasted all the top-finishing wines from the Wine Olympics, adding some Grand Crus to the lineup. Trefethen won again,” says Lorenzo Trefethen. More recently, at the 2020 and 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards (WWAs) in London, the 2017 and 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon both won “Best in Show.” The WWAs is currently the largest wine competition in the world, at which tens of thousands of wines are tasted. “Best in Show” is awarded to the top 50 wines in the competition.
Trefethen’s 2018 Chardonnay also won a Platinum award at the 2020 WWAs, a distinction given to only 178 wines. In addition, its 2021 Dragon’s Tooth won Platinum at the 2024 WWAs. This distinction is given to only 117 wines.
Trefethen leans into its history by continuing to produce its Chardonnay from grapes grown in the Oak Knoll District. The 2022 Chardonnay has aromas of green apple and stone fruit, with flavors of zesty citrus and notes of ginger.
Kays perfects this decades-long favorite by picking a bit earlier than the winery has in the past, as the seasons get warmer. “It helps that we have our own farming crew. Members of it have been here for between 10 and 40 years. They can move into harvest mode quickly, capturing that focused acidity and those notes of tropical fruit,” says Kays.
Dealing with more weather swings in recent vintages requires utilizing up-to date information about soil types, farming techniques and knowledge of clones.
“It helps that we’ve been growing grapes in Oak Knoll District since 1968. Also that I started at Trefethen as an intern in 2006, when I was still earning my oenology and viticulture degree at UC Davis. Improving the wines under changing conditions is one way that we are traditional and modern at the same time,” says Kays.
He adds the combination of approaches is necessary to get the best quality grapes and develop the wine’s stimulating bite.
A LONG HISTORY, INVOLVING SAILING
The three-story wooden wine production building at Trefethen Family Vineyards was originally built in 1886 by Hamden McIntyre, a Scottish sea captain. McIntyre also built Inglenook, the primary building of Greystone, which is now a Culinary Institute of America campus, Far Niente and a number of other historic structures in the Napa Valley.
One of the hallmarks of his design is that the second floor of the Trefethen building is curved downward on each side, like a ship’s deck.
“He built the ceilings 24 feet high, to make room for the carbon dioxide created from fermentation. You also see trenches on the second floor. These are for the juice to travel down,” says Hailey Trefethen.
This building was one of the most technologically advanced at the time. It had a horse-drawn elevator and later, a conveyor belt that transported grapes up to the third floor. The grapes were crushed on the third floor, fermented on the second floor and aged on the first floor. The winery was originally called Eschol. The business was a venture of James and George Goodman, two New York brothers and businessmen who moved to the Napa Valley.
The 280-acre vineyard and winery building continued on through Prohibition by growing grapes to produce sacramental wine. All of the grounds had fallen into disuse by 1940. When Eugene and Catherine bought the property in 1968, they began to replant the vineyard. Janet and John Trefethen quickly took over, renovating the historic winery as they started to make wine from the vineyards. The family had to restore the structure again in 2014 because of extensive damage from the South Napa earthquake.
THE STORY CONTINUES AT KATIE’S ACRE
As Trefethen moves into 2025, Kays and the family board want to keep experimenting with techniques and varieties.
“We have a library of all the vintages and often taste them to get perspective. The old wines taste wonderful after all those years. My goal is to have my takes on the Trefethen wines be as special in the decades to come,” says Kays.
The winery is also planting new varietals, like Charbono (Bonarda), a red wine grape that tends toward blue and purple fruit, with a bit of spice. In addition, the winery is growing produce in “La Huerta,” a garden patch on the estate that is just under an acre. La Huerta produces around 100 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs a year.
“The garden’s main purpose is to provide fresh produce for our team all year round. It’s also the source of most of the vegetables and fruit in the dishes our chef creates. It was the inspiration for our annual salsa making competition where all the ingredients have to come from La Huerta. This year marked our ninth annual contest,” says Hailey Trefethen.
One of the most-cherished spots on the estate is Katie’s Acre, an acre of vineyard that is shaded in the middle by a champion walnut tree. A champion tree is one recognized as the largest living example of its species.
Long ago, Eugene Trefethen wanted to uproot the tree to plant more vines.
“Katie said, ‘Don’t you dare touch that tree!’ The area around the tree is now a favorite spot for us to gather the company together. It’s also where I was married,” says Lorenzo Trefethen.
Trefethen makes Katie’s Acre Chardonnay, its highest quality Chardonnay, from the grapes in the vineyard around the tree.
Guests at Trefethen Family Vineyards should request wines they have liked before, to get Trefethen’s take on these varietals. They should also inquire about library wines, which Trefethen often opens and shares in their tasting room. That will give them a sense of what changes the vineyard team and winemakers have made over time.
“Lorenzo and I are always thinking 20 years ahead, in our vineyard practices and in what we will release. We’re also taking our children into the vineyard for harvest. It’s what our parents did, to include us. We can see they’re already excited about being part of the process,” says Hailey Trefethen.
To learn more about Trefethen Family Vineyards, visit trefethen.com.
