Stony Hill Vineyard

Fred McCrea, who worked in advertising for McCann-Erickson in San Francisco, and his wife Eleanor bought a 168-acre former goat ranch on the slopes of Spring Mountain in 1943 as a weekend getaway. Drawn to white Burgundy, the couple began planting after World War II, putting in Chardonnay along with Riesling and Pinot Blanc and later adding Gewürztraminer, Sémillon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. The first Chardonnay cuttings came from Wente Winery in Livermore; the Napa Wine Project dates the initial planting to 1948, when only about 200 acres of the variety grew in all of California. The winery was built in 1951 and bonded in 1952. The first vintage, a 1952 Chardonnay labeled Pinot Chardonnay as was customary at the time, sold out, and by 1954 the entire output moved through a mailing list, begun as Fred and Eleanor's handwritten letters to Bay Area friends, that the estate calls Napa Valley's first winery mailing list. Fred brought on Mike Chelini as assistant winemaker in 1972, hiring him away from Sterling Vineyards, where Chelini had started as a cellar rat. After Fred's death in 1977, Chelini became sole winemaker and carried on the estate's winemaking and philosophy for more than four decades. In 1991, after Eleanor McCrea's death, her son Peter and daughter-in-law Willinda took over management of Stony Hill; their daughter Sarah joined the business in 2011, making it a third-generation family operation. Peter McCrea had earlier worked for the Arabian American Oil Company in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, then in the Hague, before a 32-year career at Chevron; he retired in 2001 and died in 2025.

• 168-acre purchase in 1943; winery built 1951, bonded 1952; first vintage a 1952 Chardonnay labeled Pinot Chardonnay
• Initial Chardonnay cuttings sourced from Wente Winery in Livermore
• By 1954 all wine sold through a handwritten mailing list
• Mike Chelini joined as assistant winemaker in 1972 and became sole winemaker after Fred McCrea's death in 1977
• Peter and Willinda McCrea assumed management in 1991; daughter Sarah joined the business in 2011

After decades of McCrea family ownership, Stony Hill was sold in 2018 to Ted Hall and his family, owners of Long Meadow Ranch. Mike Chelini left after that sale; the estate's history page ends his tenure in 2018, while the Napa Valley Register and the Napa Wine Project date his departure to 2019, after 47 years at Stony Hill. In December 2020, the Halls sold Stony Hill to Gaylon Lawrence Jr., an Arkansas agriculture entrepreneur who also owns Heitz Cellar, Burgess Cellars and Haynes Vineyard in Coombsville along with Château Lascombes in Bordeaux, and Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy Jr., CEO of Lawrence Wine Estates. The new owners named Jaimee Motley winemaker and Laurie Taboulet estate director in December 2020. Motley, who made her name at Pax Wine Cellars, remained winemaker at least through the 2022 harvest. Reid Griggs was winemaker by the 2023 harvest and holds the role today.

• 2018: McCrea family sells Stony Hill to Ted Hall and Long Meadow Ranch
• December 2020: Gaylon Lawrence Jr. and Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy Jr. (CEO, Lawrence Wine Estates) acquire Stony Hill from the Halls
• Jaimee Motley named winemaker and Laurie Taboulet estate director at the December 2020 acquisition; Motley remained winemaker at least through the 2022 harvest
• Reid Griggs winemaker as of the 2023 harvest and today
• Lawrence's other Napa Valley holdings include Heitz Cellar, Burgess Cellars and Haynes Vineyard in Coombsville

Reid Griggs is Winemaker, Erik Elliott, MS, is Estate Director, and Julia Minnillo is Director of Membership & Fulfillment. Griggs found his way into wine during his first vintage at Bedrock Wine Company, went on to work the steep slopes of Saint Joseph in the Northern Rhone and to help farm some of Napa Valley's oldest Cabernet vines, and holds a Master's degree in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis, where he studied microbial community dynamics in winegrowing. Elliott, a Master Sommelier, leads Sommelier Series tastings as part of Stony Hill's Vintages in the Villa collaboration with the Bardessono hotel in Napa Valley. Minnillo previously worked in Michelin-starred restaurants including Danny Meyer's Maialino and Del Posto in New York before moving to Napa Valley in 2015 and working her way to a Captain position at The French Laundry with the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group; she now leads Stony Hill's allocation program.

• Reid Griggs, Winemaker: prior experience at Bedrock Wine Company and in Saint Joseph, Northern Rhone; Master's in Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis
• Erik Elliott, MS, Estate Director: leads Sommelier Series tastings for the Vintages in the Villa collaboration with Bardessono
• Julia Minnillo, Director of Membership & Fulfillment: prior roles at Maialino, Del Posto and The French Laundry (Thomas Keller Restaurant Group)

Stony Hill's vineyard occupies steep terraces on the eastern side of the Mayacamas Mountains in the Spring Mountain District between St. Helena and Calistoga, at elevations between 800 and 1,550 feet with a northeast-facing exposure. The soils are volcanic mountain soil over a limestone sub-layer in the estate's account, while the Napa Wine Project describes decomposed sandstone and shale with more iron-rich, volcanic material at the highest elevations. The vineyard was certified organic through CCOF in 2019 and is farmed with regenerative practices, including grazing by a large contract sheep herd from Star Creek Land Stewards. The property underwent significant replanting in 2020 and 2021, and as of September 2025 Stony Hill farms about 40 acres of vineyard. Chardonnay, Riesling and Gewürztraminer are the historic white varieties still planted, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah added as red varieties over the past twenty years; the first Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in 2004, with the first red wines released in 2009.

• Spring Mountain District, 800-1,550 feet elevation, northeast-facing; volcanic mountain soil over limestone, with iron-rich volcanic soils at the highest elevations
• CCOF organic certified since 2019; regenerative farming including contract grazing by Star Creek Land Stewards
• Significant replanting in 2020 and 2021; about 40 acres of vineyard as of September 2025
• Historic whites: Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer; reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah) added over the past twenty years
• First Cabernet Sauvignon planted 2004; first red wines released 2009

The wines are highly allocated and estate grown; the estate calls its style classic and terroir-true. The heritage white field blend of Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay was officially named L'Escalier in 2023. A three-part Estate Cabernet Sauvignon series divides the property by terroir: Côtes des Pierres, from boulder fields at the lower gate between roughly 600 and 800 feet (below the 800-foot floor given for the vineyard overall), Côte Rouge, from iron-rich volcanic soils crowning the estate at about 1,500 feet, and a forthcoming Côte Boisée; the 2022 vintages of Côtes des Pierres and Côte Rouge, the series' first vintage, were slated for release in fall 2025. Under the SHV label, which the McCrea family used during replanting to set wines from purchased fruit apart from estate wines, Stony Hill has released single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Linda Falls Vineyard on Howell Mountain, planted by the Heitz family and previously made only by Heitz Cellar, and from Ink Grade Vineyard, also on Howell Mountain, both other Lawrence Wine Estates properties, along with a blended SHV Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from Linda Falls, Ink Grade and the Stony Hill estate. A 2023 Cuvée Eleanor McCrea Cabernet Sauvignon is on the current tasting menu alongside the Estate Chardonnay. Stony Hill also made a dessert wine, Sémillon de Soleil, exclusively for Corti Brothers wine shop in Sacramento from 1969 to 1982, after its owner, Darryl Corti, offered to buy the wine if the McCreas made it; the first vintage was 1972, and 2018 was the last vintage produced.

• L'Escalier: heritage white field blend of Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay, officially named in 2023
• Estate Cabernet Sauvignon series by terroir: Côtes des Pierres and Côte Rouge (2022 vintage, the series' first, slated for fall 2025 release), with Côte Boisée forthcoming
• SHV label: single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Linda Falls Vineyard (Howell Mountain, planted by the Heitz family) and Ink Grade Vineyard (Howell Mountain), plus a blended SHV Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
• Cuvée Eleanor McCrea Cabernet Sauvignon (2023) and Estate Chardonnay on the current tasting menu
• Sémillon de Soleil dessert wine: exclusive to Corti Brothers of Sacramento 1969-1982; first vintage 1972, last vintage produced 2018

In 1953 Stony Hill supplied Chardonnay cuttings to Hanzell Vineyards in Sonoma; those vines, still producing today in a 4-acre block called the Ambassador's 1953 Vineyard, are the oldest continuously producing Chardonnay vines, and the second-oldest producing Pinot Noir vines (after Sonoma's van der Kamp Vineyard), in the United States by the Napa Wine Project's count. A block of Riesling on the Stony Hill estate, planted in the late 1940s, may be the oldest Riesling vines still commercially producing in North America. Stony Hill still keeps the mailing list Fred and Eleanor McCrea started in the early 1950s with handwritten letters to Bay Area friends; it now often spans several generations of consumers.

• 1953: Stony Hill Chardonnay cuttings supplied Hanzell Vineyards, now Hanzell's Ambassador's 1953 Vineyard
• Napa Wine Project: those Hanzell vines are the oldest continuously producing Chardonnay vines, and the second-oldest producing Pinot Noir vines, in the US
• A Stony Hill Riesling block planted in the late 1940s may be the oldest Riesling vines still producing in North America
• Mailing list started in the early 1950s with handwritten letters to Bay Area friends

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/, https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/history/, https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/vineyards/, https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/team/, https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/acquire/, https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/visit/, https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/lifestyle/inside-the-residence/, https://www.stonyhillvineyard.com/lifestyle/letters-from-the-cellar/. Secondary sources: The Napa Wine Project, Wine Industry Advisor (press release, December 24, 2020), Napa Valley Register (obituary, November 8, 2023), San Francisco Chronicle. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.