Cuvaison Estate Wines History

Cuvaison’s historic winery is situated on the historic Silverado Trail in northern Napa Valley. In 1969 Thomas Cotrell and Thomas Parkhill, both Silicon Valley engineers, founded Cuvaison with a 27-acre vineyard at the winery’s Calistoga location. New York publisher Oakleigh Thorne purchased the winery in 1974 and then appointed the Swiss-born Philip Togni as Winemaker. In 1979, the Schmidheiny family of Switzerland purchased Cuvaison as well as 400 acres of prime vineyard land in the Carneros region in southern Napa Valley. The fall of 1998 marked the purchase of the historic 170-acre Brandlin vineyard on Mt. Veeder. Today Cuvaison has the historic winery in Carneros as well as a new facility in the heart of the Carneros estate.

John Thacher took over the winemaking in 1982. In 1988, he was selected as Winemaker of the Year by “Wine & Spirits” magazine and then became President in 1998. With John’s departure at the end of 2001, Jay Schuppert became President and Steven Rogstad took over as Head Winemaker.

Steven oversees all vineyard operations at both the Carneros and Brandlin estates. Steven uses the finest equipment and French oak barrels in the fermentation of Chardonnay and in the aging process of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Merlot and our Single Block wines – all of which are planted at the winery’s 400 acre estate in the Carneros region – as well as Cabernet Sauvignon blend, which comes from our Mount Veeder estate. All vineyard work from pruning through harvest is done by hand. The philosophy of Cuvaison wines echoes Steven Rogstad’s winemaking in stating, "Our wines must be the unique expression of the singular sites from which they come, and it’s our wonderful vineyards that shape the style of each wine."

Cuvaison wines are distributed in all 50 states and are presented in over 40 international markets, first class airlines and on the top rated cruise lines.