Napa Valley, California
Professor George W. Hendry and his wife Margaret lucked out back in 1939, when their bid was accepted for a broken-down ranch house with a vineyard, orchards and pasture, in the foothills west of Napa. Since then, three generations of the Hendry family have learned to grow grapes on the Hendry Ranch, and the fourth generation is just tall enough to reach the pedals of the tractor. The Ranch is situated near the base of Mt. Veeder, in the low, rolling foothills a little north and west of town. Margaret Hendry, widowed in 1944, farmed grapes, cattle and prune-plums, and rented out rooms to support her family through the next three decades. Her fortitude enabled the family to hold on to the property, and both boys to attend university, as the Napa Valley began to simmer with the excitement of a new era.
Our vineyard now makes up 114 acres of the 200-acre estate. Its dozen or so varieties are the sole source for all the Hendry wines. Wines are made in our gravity-flow winery, designed by winemaker and second-generation son, George O. Hendry. George had been selling grapes to some of the up-and-coming wineries of the new Napa. In 1992, he decided to test out some ideas and make wine out of his own fruit. In 30 years of winemaking, he’s learned the personalities of each variety and each individual block.