Spring Mountain Road is often mentioned as one of California’s most scenic roads.    In addition, Spring Mountain is a District of great wines and great neighbors.  Several times a year wineries and neighbors team up for a day of road cleaning.  On February 26 fourteen people pitched in to traverse all of Spring Mountain Road from Elmhurst Avenue at the bottom to the Sonoma County line at the top.  “We maneuvered through  lots of blackberries and poison oak to fill a truck with stuff that shouldn’t have been on the road,” explained Ron Rosenbrand, Vineyard Manager for Spring Mountain Vineyard.

Over the years one of the most memorable finds was a six-piece sectional sofa, which had to be pulled from the creek by two teams using hundreds of feet of rope.

The day of neighborliness ended with the group enjoying burritos and beer together afterwards in St. Helena.

Ron has spearheaded the District’s road clean-up efforts for the last eighteen years.

At 845 acres, Spring Mountain Vineyard spans from 400 to 1,600 feet in elevation, has 8 soil series within its footprint and 135 unique vineyard blocks. 225 acres are planted, primarily to red Bordeaux varieties that comprise its primary wines: Elivette, a signature proprietary wine and Cabernet Sauvignon. Sauvignon Blanc is also produced.

Spring Mountain Vineyard was once four separate, but contiguous vineyards, each with its own history:  La Perla (1873), Miravalle (1885), Chevalier (1891) and Alba (1979).  In the early 1990s the vineyards became one, making it one of the most historically significant wine estates in the Napa Valley. Often familiar to visitors as the setting for the television series Falconcrest, the winery welcomes visitors by appointment: https://www.springmountainvineyard.com/RSVP/, 2805 Spring Mountain Road, 707/967-4188.

Blackberries along Spring Mountain Road