Stagecoach Vineyard

This rugged terrain first made history in the 1800s, when the gentleman bandit Charles Earl Bowles, known as Black Bart, robbed the daily stagecoach that traveled over the hill from St. Helena to Monticello. Early German settlers discovered the well-drained soils and perfect growing conditions, and their grapes brought some of the highest prices in the Napa Valley. Soon a nearby luxury mineral spa was attracting visitors from San Francisco and beyond. But by the early 1900s the increased deer population devastated the vineyards and by Prohibition viticulture was abandoned on these hills.