Fodor's Expert Review Schweiger Vineyards

Trying to sell his wife, Sally, on his late-1970s notion of planting a vineyard on their woodsy Spring Mountain property, contractor Fred Schweiger assured her, "It'll just be a hobby." Over time that hobby evolved into the lifestyle the family now shares with guests to its indoor and outdoor tasting spaces, whose gasp-worthy elevation-2,000-feet views include some of the original vines and extend across the Napa Valley to Howell Mountain. One of Fred's mentors advised him to plant the "king and queen of grapes," Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. For a decade the family sold all the fruit, but in 1994 son Andy began making Schweiger wines, eventually adding Sauvignon Blanc, more Bordeaux reds, Pinot Noir, and two port-style dessert offerings. For an exhilarating and educational spin through the vines, some on steeply terraced slopes, book (May–August) the All-Terrain Vineyard Experience.