Ladera is the Spanish word for hillside, which is appropriate for Ladera’s hillside estate cabernet. The wines are fermented, barreled in caves and bottled, all at Ladera’s stone winery on Howell Mountain, originally built in 1886 and now completely restored. The Ladera vineyards are at either end of the Napa Valley. Lone Canyon Vineyard is on the flank of Mt. Veeder ranges and in some areas it is so rugged and steep that it’s difficult to stand upright. Ladera’s Howell Mountain property is on a gently rolling terrain, but set on a broad ridge of the mountain high above the Napa Valley floor. Both produce the distinctly intense fruit of well-drained hillside and mountain vineyards.

Chinese workers, who cut away the railway through the Sierra Nevadas, originally built the winery. The stonewalls are thirty inches thick and came from a quarry from Howell Mountain. When Ladera bought the property in 2000, they were determined to preserve not only the craftsmanship of the stonemasons, but also the intention of the winemakers. The old stone winery is one of the few wineries in Napa that not only has been restored, but also returned to its former glory as a gravity flow winery. Tours of our historic winery are available by appointment. 


Tastings are conducted either at the tasting bar or at a private table. There is easy listening music playing in the tasting room to add to the casual ambiance and views of the high plateau vineyards from the window. It is an historic and educational winery to visit.