Napa WinoNapa Valley has more than 400 wineries in a strip of land just 30 miles long, and “the best winery in Napa” is the wrong question — the right question is the best winery for the day you want to have. Here are our picks by vibe, drawn from the 50+ verified estates in our directory.
Best first-timer stop: Robert Mondavi Winery
The winery that defined modern Napa. Robert Mondavi's Oakville mission has welcomed guests since 1966, the To Kalon Vineyard produces benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon and Fumé Blanc, and the tours are the best crash course in how Napa became Napa. Multiple daily tastings make it the easiest icon to actually get into.
Best castle: Castello di Amorosa
A medieval-style Tuscan castle in Calistoga with 107 rooms, a moat, a drawbridge, a frescoed great hall, and a torture chamber — built over three decades by Dario Sattui. It is unapologetically theatrical and one of the most fun visits in the valley, especially with a group. Daily tours; book the reserve tasting for the barrel cellars.
Best caves: Schramsberg and Jarvis
Schramsberg's hillside caves near Calistoga were dug by hand in the 1870s and now age America's benchmark traditional-method sparkling wine — the candlelit cave tour is unforgettable. For something stranger, Jarvis Estate near Napa placed its entire winery inside a 45,000-square-foot cave, waterfall included.
Best views: Sterling, Artesa, and Joseph Phelps
Sterling Vineyards puts you in an aerial gondola up to a white hilltop winery 300 feet over Calistoga. Artesa's minimalist winery is sunk into a Carneros ridge with terraces looking toward San Pablo Bay. Joseph Phelps — birthplace of Insignia in 1974 — pours on a terrace directly above its estate vineyard in St. Helena.
Best sparkling: Domaine Carneros and Schramsberg
Domaine Carneros, Taittinger's château south of Napa, serves traditional-method bubbles and estate Pinot Noir on a terrace over the vines — the most relaxed elegant afternoon in the valley. Schramsberg is the historic pilgrimage; Mumm Napa in Rutherford is the casual crowd-pleaser with a photography gallery.
Best history: Beringer, Charles Krug, and Inglenook
Charles Krug (1861) is Napa's first winery, still run by the Peter Mondavi family. Beringer (1876) is its oldest continuously operating one — tour the Rhine House. Inglenook, Francis Ford Coppola's 1879 Rutherford château, is the most cinematic: ivy-covered stone and the flagship Rubicon Cabernet.
The cult estates, explained
Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Colgin, Dalla Valle, and Promontory make Napa's most sought-after wines — and mostly cannot be visited. They sell through allocation mailing lists with waitlists that can run years. Join the lists on their websites, or hunt their bottles on deep restaurant cellars like PRESS in St. Helena, whose Napa list runs about 3,000 bottles.