Palmaz Vineyards

Palmaz Vineyards is a Napa Valley winery. Its vineyards span gentle hills and mountaintop mesas at three distinct elevations on the property. Its subterranean winery, the Cave, extends 18 stories into the rocky flank of Mount George and serves as home to its proprietary take on gravity-flow winemaking. The Palmaz family revived a forgotten pioneer winery on land that had once produced fine Napa wine and brandy; the property was originally the site of Cedar Knoll Vineyard and Winery, founded in 1881 by Henry Hagen, and was purchased by the Palmaz family in the late 1990s.

The Palmaz family revived a forgotten pioneer winery, a fine old house badly in need of renovation and acres of land that had once produced fine Napa wine and brandy. In 1852, young Henry Hagen arrived on a West Coast in the throes of continental expansion and the Gold Rush. He initially settled in San Francisco but in 1881 turned his attention slightly north, purchasing a parcel of land in the southern end of nearby Napa Valley, against the forested ridges of Mount George. There he founded Cedar Knoll Vineyard and Winery, where the Palmaz Vineyards and family reside today, just off what's now known as Hagen Road. Hagen became one of the true pioneers of the Napa Valley: his noteworthy wines were featured at the San Francisco Opera House and served to some of the finest people of the city, according to contemporary newspaper accounts. Hagen even won a silver medal for his brandy at L'Exposition Universelle de Paris 1889 World's Fair. Hagen died in 1895, leaving behind 450 acres of "fine vineland." While Cedar Knoll was lauded for its wines (and spirits), Hagen's descendants did not share his passion. With the arrival of Prohibition in 1919, the property's winemaking endeavors were abandoned until the Palmaz family purchased the property in the late 1990s and set about restoring its former glory. Julio and Amalia Palmaz have always believed that if given the proper attention and care, their land can produce excellent wine for generations. Along with their children, Florencia and Christian Gastón (and Christian's wife, Jessica Louise), they set about creating a winery that leverages tradition and technology in the service of crafting great wine.

1. Palmaz Vineyards - The Fusion of Tradition and Technology
2. History
3. Family and Team