Van Der Heyden Winery

Van Der Heyden Winery

4057 Silverado Trail
Napa, CA 94558
Telephone: 707.257.0130

Website: http://www.vanderheydenvineyards.com

Tasting Room Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

This winery was the first one we visited on the day after Thanksgiving.  We were told the wineries along the Silverado Trail were smaller and had more interesting wines, and given up til this point we had only been to huge, impersonal wineries, we were excited to see some more intimate wineries.  Van Der Heyden was fantastic, it is impossible to think of something that could be further from V Sattui, Peju, and the Castello.  At the end of a narrow driveway there are a few parking spaces on one side and a series of small bungalow-style homes and an assortment of cars (given we were the only visitors at the time, I assume they belonged to winery staff).  There is plenty of clutter and an assortment of outdoor furniture (apparently when it’s busy they do the tastings outdoors).  Getting out of the car we were greeted by several dogs, which was frightening at first, but they meant no harm so it was cool.

The tasting room is in one of the back buildings and is barely large enough for five people, including the staffer doing the tasting.  This was pretty refreshing for us, there were no frills and little or no thought went into design for the room or property.  What this means is all the winery thinks about is making good wines and selling them at a reasonable price.  The wines we tasted were excellent, the highlights being the cabernet sauvignon (we bought a bottle) and their white table wine. I definitely recommend anybody visiting Napa go to this winery.