Clos du Val

Clos du Val was founded in 1972 by John and Henrietta Goelet. John Goelet, whose grandfather on his mother's side operated the Bordeaux wine merchant Barton & Guestier, hired French winemaker Bernard Portet to look for premium wine regions outside France in which to grow and produce Bordeaux-style wines. The winery quotes Goelet's instruction to Portet: “We want to achieve the best wine outside of Bordeaux. Go ‘round the world and find it.” After two years and four continents, Portet found the site in the Stags Leap District, where the air grew suddenly cold as he drove south into a sheltered pass. That land became Hirondelle Vineyard. Portet's father served as technical director at Château Lafite Rothschild, and Portet grew up tasting a new vintage every year of his life.

• Founded in 1972 by John and Henrietta Goelet
• Founding winemaker Bernard Portet, now Winemaker Emeritus
• Portet's search for the site covered two years and four continents
• Hirondelle is the French word for swallow

The first vintage, the 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon, was one of several California Cabernets selected for the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting, where it placed eighth of the ten wines in the California Cabernet Sauvignon versus red Bordeaux flight. Ten years later, in 1986, the same wine took first place in a rematch of the original 1976 entrants. The 1972 was not made from estate fruit or in the winery's own cellar: the fruit was purchased from the Park-Muscatine vineyard on Howell Mountain and from Stags Leap District neighbors, and the wine was made at Cuvaison. The winery's driveway is named Steven Spurrier Way, after the British wine expert who organized the original Paris tasting.

• 1976 Judgment of Paris: the 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon placed eighth of ten reds
• 1986 rematch of the original entrants: the same 1972 took first place
• The 1972 was made at Cuvaison from purchased fruit, including Park-Muscatine vineyard fruit from Howell Mountain
• The winery driveway is named Steven Spurrier Way

The Hirondelle Estate, 100 acres along the Silverado Trail, is the original site and still the backbone of the Cabernet program. It lies in a cool, sheltered valley greeted daily by coastal winds, with soils formed by the erosion of volcanic palisades; Portet found Hirondelle on Bale soil. After digging deep holes across the estate to study soils eroded from the Stags Leap Palisades, the team matched different Bordeaux varieties to the conditions best suited to each. Two further estate vineyards, State Lane and Riverbend, are both in Yountville. The former Carneros holdings, planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, were sold in mid 2021. Farming follows a regenerative approach guided by organic principles, with insectary rows, pollinator habitats, ground cover, and integrated livestock, including sheep.

• Hirondelle Estate: 100 acres along the Silverado Trail, the original site
• State Lane and Riverbend: estate vineyards in Yountville
• Hirondelle soils eroded from the Stags Leap Palisades above the vineyard
• Regenerative farming guided by organic principles

The winery describes a philosophy of blending as what sets it apart from its Napa Valley neighbors and as the reason Clos du Val was created. Wine Spectator describes a house style built around elegance and freshness and credits the winery with being among the first to use Merlot prominently in blends with Cabernet Sauvignon. Yettalil, which the winery calls its rarest and most age worthy wine, is a tribute to founding matriarch Henrietta Goelet: a blend of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon supported by Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. The Stags Leap District estate range also includes an Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and an Estate Cabernet Franc. The Napa Valley range includes a Sauvignon Blanc blended with Sémillon and a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon made in every vintage since 1972. Table Wine, a California red from the third generation of the family, is a chillable blend of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot from organically farmed grapes. The Three Graces image, taken from a 1624 sculpture by Georg Petel that John Goelet acquired in 1969 and later donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has appeared on Clos du Val labels since the 1972 vintage.

• Yettalil: Cabernet Sauvignon-led blend named for Henrietta Goelet
• Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Estate Cabernet Franc from Stags Leap District
• Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc blended with Sémillon; Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon made every vintage since 1972
• Table Wine: chillable red from organically farmed grapes, led by the family's third generation

Three generations of the Goelet family have led Clos du Val for more than fifty years, and the winery has never changed hands. Ownership has passed from the founders, John Goelet (d. 2023) and Henrietta Goelet, to their six grandchildren. Olav Goelet, a third-generation owner, leads the winery, with Carmel Greenberg as winemaker; Helen Goelet, also a third-generation owner, is behind Table Wine. Greenberg was hired in June 2021 after working with winemaker Tod Mostero at Dominus, and Clos du Val was her first head winemaking role.

• Goelet-owned since 1972; the winery has never changed hands
• Ownership passed to the founders' six grandchildren
• Olav Goelet: third-generation owner who leads the winery
• Carmel Greenberg: winemaker, hired in 2021 after working at Dominus

The Hirondelle House hospitality center opened in 2018 beside the original winery. Under Olav Goelet, a label revamp began with the 2019 vintage, and the winery made no red wines in the 2020 vintage because of smoke taint. The winery has refocused its portfolio on Cabernet Sauvignon while scaling back on Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Merlot. Hirondelle House welcomes guests for tastings Thursday through Monday.

• 2018: Hirondelle House hospitality center opens
• 2019 vintage: label revamp begins
• 2020 vintage: no red wines released because of smoke taint
• 2021: Carneros vineyard holdings sold

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.closduval.com/, https://www.closduval.com/pages/story, https://www.closduval.com/pages/estate, https://www.closduval.com/pages/farming, https://www.closduval.com/pages/wines, https://www.closduval.com/pages/visit, https://www.closduval.com/pages/press, https://www.closduval.com/pages/tablewine, https://www.closduval.com/pages/yettalil, https://www.closduval.com/blogs/notes-from-hirondelle, https://www.closduval.com/pages/trade, https://www.closduval.com/blogs/notes-from-hirondelle/what-makes-a-napa-cabernet-age-well, https://www.closduval.com/blogs/notes-from-hirondelle/a-short-history-of-the-silverado-trail-and-why-the-soil-matters, https://www.closduval.com/blogs/notes-from-hirondelle/best-in-show-at-decanter-the-case-for-bottling-cabernet-franc-alone, https://www.closduval.com/blogs/notes-from-hirondelle/a-winery-guide-to-the-silverado-trail. Secondary sources: The Napa Wine Project (Clos du Val producer review), Wine Spectator (Clos du Val Gets Back on Course, October 20, 2021), San Francisco Chronicle (Napa's most historic wineries are staging a comeback). Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs. Last verified 2026-10-12