While having a cup of coffee at the Napa Valley Roasting Company, an article in the St. Helena Star caught our eye. It was about two brothers who grew up in the Valley, started a career elsewhere, and returned to make wine and start a family winery. We called Kelham Vineyards and scheduled a fancy sit down wine tasting for 2 p.m that afternoon. The Kelham winery and tasting room is tucked away just off Zinfandel Lane in St. Helena.
When we arrived the principal owner of Kelham and resident host, Susanna Kelham, graciously greeted us. Susanna gave us the choice of sitting at a table inside their lovely tasting room or at a table on the veranda. On this beautiful and delightful day, we chose to be outside near the vineyards.
For $20 per person, we tasted six wines, all well structured and very delicious. Three of the Cabernets we tasted came from vineyards in Oakville. Winemaker brothers Ron and Hamilton have an inside connection to getting some of the finest grapes grown in the Oakville AVA. Their father, Rawson Kelham has been growing premier grapes in Oakville since the 1970s.
Susanna is passionate about the wines describing each in great detail. We sit and chat, and spend about an hour tasting the wines. We really enjoyed our visit here and the chance to try wines we normally would not. These are high-end wines that are truly out of our pocketbook. But it’s a good treat for us.
The Good: A fancy wine tasting experience among the vineyards and redwood trees. Wines are delicious. Susanna is a terrific host.
The Bad: No other way to taste the Kelham wines without doing the fancy sit down tasting for $20 per person. If you are looking for wines under $20, this is not the place.