Explore the heritage of one of the world’s top wine-producing regions at the 1881 Napa Wine History Museum.
By Anna Lee Braunstein
October 2020
Napa Valley, California, is a special destination, with activities that range from free to “take out your biggest credit card.” The wonderful 1881 Napa Wine History Museum, located in Oakville amid renowned wineries, offers free admission. Through photographs and a collection of farm and vintner equipment, the museum presents the story of this region. After a stop at the museum, visitors will find limitless opportunities to take out that credit card.
In 2019 Jean-Charles Boisset, a world-renowned vintner, purchased a couple of buildings in Napa. He knew he was buying more than a Victorian home and a historic grocery; he was acquiring a piece of history and a tribute to great wine. He first visited Napa as an 11-year-old traveling with his grandparents and sister. As a lover of history, he was intrigued by the rustic architecture of the buildings. Decades later, he added the Oakville property and others to his family’s Boisset Collection of fine wineries and travel destinations.
Climbing the stairs (an elevator is available) to what was the second floor of a small home that dates to 1874, visitors meet the pioneers of the Napa Valley. The stairwell is lined with photographs of both the famous and the more obscure who settled in and developed what is now one of the premier wine-producing areas in the world. Among them were a Latin scholar, a dentist, a cattle rancher, and a minister. Their varied stories began across the continent or across the oceans, but they all culminate in their contribution to the appellations of the Napa Valley.
The museum is housed in a historic Victorian home.
One of the more colorful stories, part true and part fabrication, is of Hungarian-born Agoston Haraszthy, who came to America “to see this blessed country for myself” and later was lured to California during the gold rush. He called himself a count and developed Buena Vista, one of the largest wineries in the area, now owned by Boisset Collection.
Others include Robert Louis Stevenson, who described his Napa honeymoon in an 1884 travel memoir titled The Silverado Squatters. Captain George Yount, a Kentucky rifleman during the War of 1812, was the first American settler in Napa County. Each step in the museum provides intriguing stories and histories of the people who impacted the area.
Display cases along the walls on the second floor present more than 200 tools and artifacts used in wine production during the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and America, especially California. Some seem simple and primitive; others look like they could be used today. Pumps, barrel hole makers, grape crushers, pest control sprayers — all large tools used for vine maintenance — sit on windowsills backed by views of the vineyards beyond. Mundane-seeming tools of viticulture are assembled as objets d’art. Hand tools are positioned as sculpture. Pairs of pruning shears seem to sprout on a branch.
Hanging from the ceiling is the 48-light Baccarat crystal Zenith chandelier that illuminates the first floor. Accompanying the chandelier on the ceiling is a reproduction of an 1895 map of Napa County. The view from the mezzanine shows the tasting room operated by the Oakville Wine Merchant.
You don’t have to taste the wine, though options of sipping and purchasing are limitless. The tasting room’s walls are lined with wine stations offering more than 50 wines from 14 appellations. Descriptions of the appellations were written by Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible. They include information about the vineyard, as well as interesting facts and bits of history about that particular area.
The home boasts a stairwell lined with photos of people who played a role in developing Napa Valley.
Among the tasting options are flights named “Majestic Mountains versus Plush Valley” and “Is it Cool to be Hot or Hot to be Cool?” After purchasing a wine card, sample multiple tastes or enjoy half or full glasses of wine. Tastes start at $2. This provides a chance to sample possible purchases and/or enjoy the rare opportunity to savor a glass of wine selling for thousands of dollars a bottle.
Just steps from the museum is the Oakville Grocery, enticing visitors with an amazing array of food and drink. News stories about the grocery date back to 1874 when a local paper advertised it as a dry goods, grocery, and hardware store. Later, in 1881, a Napa County Reporter advertisement described “Oakville Station — Where James McQuaid officiates as Railroad agent, Postmaster, and Wells, Fargo and Company’s agent, also dispensing at a reasonable figure, all kinds of general merchandise to people of the vicinity, from a calico dress to a keg of tenpenny nails.”
Over the decades, the store survived fire when all around it burned. Coca-Cola and local produce kept it going during Prohibition and the Great Depression. After World War II, the store switched to exotic high-end goods, such as 75 types of mustard and a variety of artisan cheeses. Even as ownership changed, the store continued to offer delectable choices. Being listed on the National Register of Historic Places protected the building during the necessary restoration in 2012.
Today, you won’t find those dresses or nails, but there is no reason to leave the grocery empty-handed. The shelves are stocked with a large supply of tantalizing products, the vast majority of which are produced within California. It is easy to fill your cart with jams, coffee, spices, and more. Nonedible souvenirs include kitchen towels, aprons, shirts, designer cutting boards, bath soaps, and grocery bags.
The circa 1874 Oakville Grocery is nearby.
The grocery offers more than 300 wines. You can enjoy a glass on the premises and/or purchase bottles to take along your way. While wine is the premier tasting delicacy, there is much more to please your taste buds.
The patio between the store and the museum is a lovely spot to dine on a breakfast sandwich, a fresh salad, or a wood-fired pizza. You can fill your picnic basket with artisan sandwiches; cheese and crackers; and, of course, wine or beer. In its own special corner is the bakery shop. The challenge is to choose from the yummy cakes, cookies, and other pastries, all from nearby bakeries.
The Oakville Post Office has been in or behind the grocery since the 1880s. There you can mail your souvenir postcards depicting this unique destination.
Jean-Charles Boisset has been quoted as saying, “None of us own 1881 Napa or Oakville Grocery. We are just guests in their history. These places will outlive us.” Thanks to the Boisset Collection, visitors today can explore the history, heritage, personalities, and passions of the Napa Valley.
Campgrounds
Napa Valley Expo RV Park
575 Third St.
Napa, CA 94559
(707) 253-4900
www.napavalleyexpo.com/rv-park.php
Skyline Wilderness Park
2201 Imola Ave.
Napa, CA 94559
(707) 252-0481
https://skylinepark.org
If You Go
Both 1881 Napa and the Oakville Grocery are located at 7856 St. Helena Highway in Oakville, California. 1881 Napa is open Sunday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Oakville Grocery is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Hours at the Oakville Wine Merchant are 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. Please note that at press time, 1881 Napa and Oakville Wine Merchant were closed for safety and social distancing reasons.
For more information, visit https://1881napa.com/ or call (707) 948-6099.