Turley Wine Cellars

Born in Tennessee and raised in Georgia, Larry Turley spent over 20 years as an emergency room physician. He co-founded Frog's Leap with John Williams in 1981, then founded Turley Wine Cellars in Napa Valley in 1993, the year of its inaugural vintage. He retired from medicine in 1997. The winery chose to focus on Zinfandel and Petite Syrah from some of California's oldest vineyards. Buying the historic Pesenti Winery, bonded in Templeton in 1934, in 2000 took the winery from Napa Valley to Paso Robles. The first Turley Cabernet vintage followed in 2010, Cobb Vineyard was bought in 2012, and the first rosé vintage came in 2013.

• 1981: Frog's Leap founded by Larry Turley and John Williams
• 1993: Turley Wine Cellars' inaugural vintage
• 2000: Turley buys the Pesenti Winery in Templeton
• 2012: Cobb Vineyard bought; 2013: first rosé vintage

Larry Turley owns the winery, and he and his wife Suzanne own three wineries. His sister Helen Turley was the first winemaker, for a short tenure. Ehren Jordan followed and left in February 2013 after 18 years, succeeded by Tegan Passalacqua. Passalacqua, the winemaker, also owns and farms Kirschenmann Vineyard in Lodi. The four stars on Turley corks and labels each stand for one of Larry Turley's four daughters.

• Owner: Larry Turley
• Winemakers: Helen Turley first, then Ehren Jordan, who left in 2013 after 18 years
• Winemaker: Tegan Passalacqua, who owns and farms Kirschenmann Vineyard
• Four stars on corks and labels, one for each of Larry Turley's four daughters

The Turley Estate Vineyard, known as Frog Farm, lies at the northern end of St. Helena on deep alluvial soils formed by Mill Creek and the Napa River. Larry Turley bought the original five-acre property and grew it into the 75-acre estate. It has been farmed organically since its CCOF certification in 1993, and conservation easements held with the Land Trust of Napa County protect much of the property. Plantings include Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, Cinsault, Carignane, Grenache and Mourvèdre, and an olive grove planted in the 1850s still bears fruit for a Turley Estate olive oil. On Howell Mountain the winery owns Rattlesnake Ridge and Dragon Vineyard, Dragon at over 2,200 feet; Rattlesnake was planted in 1999. In Paso Robles, the certified organic, estate-owned Pesenti Vineyard in the Willow Creek sub-AVA has produced grapes since 1922 on calcareous soils at 900 to 1,100 feet, and fossilized whale vertebrae have surfaced among its vines.

• Turley Estate, St. Helena: 75 acres, CCOF-certified organic since 1993, Zinfandel planted in 1996, 2006 and 2011
• Olive grove planted in the 1850s; the winery sells a Turley Estate olive oil
• Pesenti Vineyard, Willow Creek sub-AVA: producing since 1922, expanded over the decades to Petite Syrah, Grenache Noir and Grenache Blanc
• Howell Mountain: Rattlesnake Ridge and Dragon Vineyard

Alongside the vineyards it farms itself, Turley works with a network of growers. Hayne Vineyard, on the west side of St. Helena, has stayed in the same family since 1876; its head-trained, dry-farmed vines date to 1902 and 1903, and Turley has worked with the Hayne family since the inaugural 1993 vintage. Kirschenmann Vineyard's ungrafted vines were planted in 1915 on the east side of the Mokelumne River AVA, with small amounts of Mondeuse, Cinsault and Carignane; Turley's first vintage from it was 2012. Dogtown Vineyard, planted in 1944 in Lodi's Clements Hills AVA to own-rooted, head-trained Zinfandel, has been dry-farmed since its earliest days, and Turley first bottled it in 1997. Ueberroth Vineyard, planted in 1885 just west of Paso Robles, supplies Zinfandel under a long-term lease. Casa Nuestra, nearly adjacent to the Turley Estate across the Napa River and farmed organically since 1979, grows a Mediterranean mix of Petite Syrah, Zinfandel, Alicante, Carignane, Napa Gamay, Négrette, Mourvèdre, Refosco and Chenin Blanc.

• Hayne Vineyard: planted 1902 and 1903; Zinfandel, Trousseau Noir and Petite Syrah
• Kirschenmann Vineyard: ungrafted vines from 1915, Mokelumne River AVA
• Dogtown Vineyard: planted 1944, Clements Hills AVA, first Turley vintage 1997
• Ueberroth Vineyard: planted 1885 west of Paso Robles, under long-term lease

Organic farming, native yeast fermentations and a restrained hand in the cellar define the approach, and the ingredient list is grapes alone. Many sites rely on rainfall rather than irrigation, though some vineyards, most often younger vines, are irrigated. The winery generally counts a vineyard as old vine once it reaches 50 years of age and spells the grape Petite Syrah as a nod to its roots, and Larry Turley chose a Burgundy-style bottle for the wines. The Napa Wine Project describes Turley wines as rich and concentrated with some weight, often at higher alcohol levels. In 2013 Wine Spectator's Tim Fish counted them among California's most impressive and iconic Zinfandels. The lineup centers on vineyard-designate Zinfandels, alongside Petite Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Cinsault, Grenache Noir, the Juvenile and Old Vines Zinfandels, The White Coat white wine and a Zinfandel rosé.

• Organic farming, dry farming at many sites, native yeast fermentations
• Old vine threshold: a vineyard of at least 50 years
• Old Vines Zinfandel: vines 50 to 140 years old from Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lodi, Contra Costa, Amador and Paso Robles
• Turley Estate range: Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.turleywinecellars.com/, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/pages/story, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/pages/history, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/pages/visit-us, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/collections/wines, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/collections/historical-wines, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/hayne-vineyard-zinfandel-napa-valley-archive, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/old-vines-zinfandel-california-archive, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/dogtown-vineyard-zinfandel-lodi-archive, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/kirschenmann-vineyard-zinfandel-lodi-archive, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/pesenti-vineyard-zinfandel-paso-robles-archive, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/turley-estate-zinfandel-napa-valley-archive, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/casa-nuestra-red-wine-napa-valley-archive, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/2024-old-vines-zinfandel-california, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/2024-hayne-vineyard-zinfandel-napa-valley, https://www.turleywinecellars.com/products/2024-dogtown-vineyard-zinfandel-lodi. Secondary sources: https://www.napawineproject.com/turley-wine-cellars/, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/ehren-jordan-departs-turley-wine-cellars-48084. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.