Grgich Winery Napa Valley California

During our trip to Napa, we had the amazing opportunity to tour the Grgich Winery. The Grgich Winery is a family-owned and operated winery in the heart of Napa Valley.

There is a ton of history in the Grgich family for wine and winemaking. In 1976 at the Paris tasting the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that Mike Grgich crafted outscored the best of France. This event catapulted Mike Grgich into being one of the best-known winemakers in the world.

Grgich Winery Napa Valley California

In 1977 on July 4th Mike Grgich joined with Austin Hills to break ground on the Grgich Winery.

The Grgich Winery has a beautiful tasting room and educational vineyard. The education vineyard highlights Grgich Wineries' commitment to natural, organic wine growing. and sustainability. You can learn about the grape varietals that are grown and experience the seasonal changes of the vineyard.

We visited on a rainy day in Napa so we did not have a chance to enjoy the educational vineyards. I can't wait to go back and explore the vines up close.

We had the amazing opportunity to taste many of Grgich Wineries' amazing wines with Ivo Jeramaz.

Ivo Jeramaz is Mike Grgich's Nephew and current VP of vineyards and production at Grgich Winery. We were so lucky to spend time with Ivo and see his passion for the Grgich Hills Estate wines.

During our time, we could tell the love and excitement that Ivo has for the Grgich wines and the vineyards. He spent time answering all of our questions and really sharing his love of wine with us.

I was so impressed when Ivo talked about the wines and vineyards. He said that in many ways he is a farmer tending his crops that just happen to be grapes for wine. That the time spent in the vineyard is some of the most important time in wine production.

We were so impressed with each of the wines that we tasted at Grgich Winery.

I am not a red wine person but have to say that I could easily sit down with a glass of Grigich Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. Each of the wines we tasted were amazing.

Grgich Wines offers two selections; all Estate Grown and Napa Valley appellation
• Napa Valley Selections: Chardonnay, Fumé Blanc, Merlot, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Violetta (botrytis-affected late harvest wine)
• Special Selections: Chardonnay, Carneros Selection; Zinfandel, Miljenko’s Old Vines; Napa Valley Essence®; Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville Selection; Petite Sirah

It was really fascinating to hear the history of the Grgich Winery and learn about the passion that goes into producing Grigich Hills Estate Wines.

Grgich History: Vintners Hall of Fame inductee Miljenko “Mike” Grgich first earned world-wide recognition when the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay that he crafted won the 1976 Paris Tasting, beating the best of France. Mike then partnered with Austin Hills, of the Hills Bros. Coffee family, to open their family-owned-and-operated winery on July 4, 1977. In the past three decades, Grgich Hills Estate has become an iconic winery in the Napa Valley. Mike’s contributions to the wine world were recognized in “Like the Old Vine,” a documentary filmed by Croatian Radiotelevision that describes his extraordinary life and won the Grand Jury’s Special Award at the Oenovideo International Grape and Wine Film
Festival in France. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History displays the 1973 Chardonnay crafted by Mike that won the 1976 Paris Tasting, which sparked a wine revolution.

The Grgich Winery tasting room showcases the history of the winery and the amazing wines that are produced by Grgich Hills Estate Winery.

Grgich Hills Estate is located at 1829 St. Helena Highway, Rutherford, California. Keep an eye out for the amazing fountain and sign as you drive up the St. Helena Highway. There is a nice size parking lot available right near the tasting room.

Tasting and Tours: The winery and tasting room is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Grgich Winery offers a wide variety of tours and seated tasting options

You can find out more about Grgich Winery on the Grgich Winery Website.

You can also find Grgich Winery on Facebook, and YouTube