Calif. Families Lewelling John Lewelling Vineyards Contact
In 1864 John Lewelling, my Great-Great-Great Grandfather started a vineyard in St. Helena, Napa Valley. He provided grapes to some of the top wineries in the area for over 150 years.
During the 1870's and 1880's the vineyards of the St. Helena area established a reputation for producing some of the finest wines in the United States, a reputation that is now acknowledged world-wide and is attributed to the unique combination of soils and climate.

I found Lewelling Vineyards winery when doing genealogy research. I went to see if the vienyard was still there. It took a while to find someone who knew where it was.
I went up a dusty back road off of Silver Springs Avenue and found an old victorian mansion with a bust of John in fromt.

The entrance to the old estate is driveway to the left at about 2031 Sulphur Springs Ave. 0.7 mi from Hwy 29 (Main St).
Map

 
Map
Oil paintings of John and Elvy are hanging on the wall.
 

I was taking pictures when a guy came up and asked if he could help me. I told him John was my Great Great Great Grandfather and he said "mine too", You've got to come down and meet uncle Dave, he can tell you about our wine. What wine, I didn't know about it.

Some of John's descendants started making wine in the late 1990's:.
Janice Lewelling Wight, John Lewelling's great-granddaughter, and her husband Russ Wight built a home on the family property in 1950 and quickly became involved in operating and replanting the vineyard and with their family started making wine.
See Lewelling Vineyards Roots
Janice's granddaughter started her own label, Hayfork, with cabernet and some other varieties in 2019.
In 2023 she had a tasting room just off of Hwy 29 at 1282 Vidovich Ln.
The vineyard in St Helena itself is mainly just a vineyard. The grapes are crushed, fermented and aged at another location.

Map

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last updated 14 June 2007