At the time I first visited the Napa Valley, land was dirt cheap, but it wasn't until 1977 that I finally made a purchase with my father. The elderly woman who owned the 100 acres and Victorian farm house we purchased, wanted to sell, but with the caveat of a life stake to the property. At 83 she was still quite able to take care of herself and couldn't find a buyer as no one wanted to take a chance that she wouldn't live to 100! We sold three properties in San Francisco to pay her $1000/acre in a trade. We came to the property often checking in and surveying the land. Just 5 years later, she became ill and moved in with her sister in St. Helena. In 1983 my parents moved into the Victorian house where they still live.

After they moved in, I visited often, while maintaining a home, family and career in San Francisco. I also started to take classes on viticulture at the Napa Valley College, reading every book about winemaking and talking with every winemaker I met. In 1985, as a hobbyist, I planted a small vineyard on the property and created, just for fun, the unofficial first vintage in 1988. By 1991 my hobby turned serious as we produced our first commercial vintage.

Of the 100 acres purchased, we only planted five acres of hillside vineyard. These five acres produced scarcely over 325 cases for us on our 1991 vintage. As the vines matured, and Mother Nature cooperated, we have been able to produce 500 cases. This is comparatively a small amount of crop, but the fruit we harvest, while sparse, is intense in concentration.

Since then we have planted only an additional 8 acres; 6 Cabernet Sauvignon, 1 Merlot and 1 Cabernet Franc. We are waiting until the vines gain in maturity over the next few years, before harvesting all of it. From the first photo you can see the new planting and how steeply terraced the hillside is. The second photo shows some of our more mature plantings from which you can taste! While we will expand our vineyard slightly, we hope to preserve the beauty of the property as the vineyard is surrounded by native trees and wildlife.

The vineyard is located on Spring Mountain a sub appellation of the Napa Valley. The area is comprised of only 8,600 acres, mostly unplanted, and is well known for producing bold Bordeaux varietal wines as the appellation is bordered by Diamond Mountain to the North, St. Helena Appellation to the South and East. Although Frias Family Vineyard is small, there are many different soil types which add to the overall complexity of the wines. The hillside vineyard is quite rocky and almost entirely lighter colored clay. The lower vineyard is less rocky and comprised of red clay with one acre planted on volcanic ash.