Jarvis Estate Winery

Monticello road is not road to be trifled with.  My wife drives its twists and turns like Lewis Hamilton, and I grip the arm rests with white knuckles.  And this is the lovely mountain road (connecting Napa Valley with Suisun Valley) where Jarvis is located. 

Forget about the road, just go up there.  It’s not that bad.  It is well worth it.  Because Jarvis is a hidden gem.  You get up there and find that the whole area is a wildlife preserve.  And then you look around for a winery building of some sort, as you follow the signs to guest parking.  But there are no buildings.  What?  There is just a large door, however, rather like the one Gandalf led the fellowship to in Lord of the Rings that led underground into the mines of Moria.  But have no fear, this lovely, large door leads underground into the hidden gem that is the entire winery of Jarvis.

The owners were unable to get a building permit back in the day and so they tunneled instead!  Right!?  And they dug deep.  See the images below.  The place is extensive, beautiful, cool, tidy and full of jewels.  Seriously, there is a room full of giant quartz crystals and massive amethyst formations.  It is magnificent.

The whole winery, bottling facility and storage is underground.  Their tastings are all done underground.  The caves are not that cold, like others we’ve visitied.  They are kept at a nice 60ish degrees with a decent humidity level thanks to a piped in waterfall.  

This is getting long.  The wines are really amazing, though on the high end of the price-point.  They are opulent, old-world, rich and extremely intense.  And what is even more impressive is that their first wine maker was Dimitri Tchelistcheff, son of the illustrious Andre Tchelistcheff, Meistro of Napa Valley.