The Elegant Old Winery By Silverado Resort And Country Club

PART ONE of TWO

Morris M. Estee Creates
Hedgeside Winery & Distillery
(Now occupied by Del Dotto Vineyards)

Copyright by John M. Olney, May 9, 2005

The following historical review was first published under the purview of
Suite 101.com, in its History Category, under Elegant Old Wineries.

Sources: (1) Historical and Descriptive Sketchbook of Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino, Menefee, C. A., 1873, Reporter Publishing House (1993); (2) Illustrations of Napa County, California: Historical Sketch, Oakland, 1878, Smith & Elliot; (3) History of Napa Co. California, Palmer, Lyman L.-Historian, 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers; (4) History of Napa County, Wallace, W. E., 1901, Enquirer Print; (5) Wine Country - A History of Napa Valley - The early years: 1838-1920, Heintz, Wm., 1990, Capra Pres: (6) Old Napa Valley - The History to 1900, Weber, Lin, 1998, Wine Ventures Publishing; (7) California’s Napa Valley-One Hundred Sixty Years of Wine Making, Heintz, Wm., 1999, Scottwall Associates; (8) www.calodges.org (Masonic lodge)

Morris M. Estee was born in 1833, within Warren County, Penn. He was a teacher in Pennsylvania before gold fever possessed his being. He came to California in 1853 first settling in 49’er country where he was a gold miner from 1853 to 1856. But his known oratory talents could not talk the gold out of “d’em dhar hills” to provide him a livelihood. He quit mining and returned to his former occupation as a teacher in the town of Volcano, California. He had been advised that his oratory talents made him an excellent candidate for a law degree so he undertook such study. Upon successful completion of his law education, he went to work for a law office in Sacramento (the state capital) during the period 1857-1859. He then broke away and established his shingle in the same town.

Politics became the next step in his illustrious career. In 1862, he was elected to the state Assembly representing Sacramento County. He served as the elected District Attorney for the City and County of the same from 1863 to 1866. He then relocated to the city of San Francisco. There, he campaigned for his friend, Newton Booth, to become Governor, which occurred in 1871. During this timeframe he was selected to be Secretary of the State Republican Central Committee, a powerful political force in California. Subsequently, 1875, Estee was elected again to the Assembly but this time representing San Francisco.

Meanwhile, Estee was establishing his law office, which had grown quite substantial, and he ventured into other business opportunities. Estee purchased about 600 acres of land to the northeast of the city of Napa. The land was adjacent to the property owned by General John F. Miller -- This latter site is now known as the very popular and prestigious Silverado Resort and Country Club. Estee and his family spent about two thirds of the year residing on the Napa property and the balance of time at their residence in San Francisco.

In 1869, Estee, along with his Napa neighbor, General John F. Miller (an associate of Gustav Niebaum founder of Inglenook Vineyard Co., and both owners in the Alaska Commercial Co.), and three others, formed the Napa and Vallejo Water Co. In the Slocum, Bowen & Co., Publishers book of 1881, “The History of Napa County, California,” Historian-Author, Lyman Palmer said, “He is one of the leading Horticulturists of Napa County, having at this time a vineyard of about 300 acres and owning in Napa Valley in one body about six hundred acres of land under a high state of cultivation.” -- I only mention this quotation because there are other historical books written in the 1990s which keep citing 1881 as the year Estee purchased the property. Vineyards require at least three to five years to reach maturity. Based on Palmer’s observations about “300 acres of vineyards” and “high state of cultivation, “ coupled with Estee’s involvement in a 1869 water company, it seems clear that the land was purchased well before 1881.

During the late 1870s and into the mid-1880s, Estee’s political career included two nominations for the U.S. Senate and one for Governor of the State of California; all were unsuccessful campaigns. During his tenure as Speaker of the Assembly, (1873-1874) he was an ex-officio Regent of the University of California Board of Regents.

The Napa Viticultural Society was formed in 1881 and Estee was selected to be its first president. In 1885 he completed construction of his “Hedgeside” winery and co-located distillery operations and caves. The design consultant for the complex was none other than Captain Hamden W. McIntyre who, in 1881 commenced winemaking in California at Captain Niebaum’s Inglenook Winery. McIntyre had been an “Agent” for the Alaska Commercial Co. prior to his arrival in Napa. He was involved in the final designs of a number of the great old graceful wineries built during the 1880s and 1890s. (Go to http://www.twcchistories.blogspot.com for more information on the Alaska Commercial Co. and Inglenook winery- now owned by movie mogul, Francis Ford Coppola- and http://www.niebaum-coppola.com/)

Estee was involved in the community in many ways. Deputy Grand Master Morris M. Estee laid the Corner Stone of the South San Francisco Masonic Lodge in 1888, and a year later, as Grand Master, he dedicated the temple. The temple and the adjacent South San Francisco Opera House, both owned by the lodge were located on the corner of Third and Newcomb streets.

He reached the political high of being elected chairman of the 1888 Republican National Convention held in Chicago where he shepherded the candidacy of Benjamin Harrison through the floor successfully gaining him the party nomination. Estee was the nominating speaker. In 1889, Harrison subsequently won the Presidential election becoming the 23rd President of the United States (His grandfather was William Henry Harrison, the 9th President). In 1890, Estee was rewarded for all his efforts with appointment to the U.S. District Court in Hawaii. (Hawaii became a Territory of the U.S. in 1900 and the 50th state in 1959).

Morris M. Estee died in the year 1903 in the Territory of Hawaii.

The history of the use of Estee’s building complex is murky during the timeframe from his death until Prohibition, implemented in 1920, forced its shut down. Similarly, I have not yet identified what was happening to the site during the entire 14 years Prohibition prevented it from producing alcohol. At the start up of WW II, the government took over the site (1944) and produced pure alcohol for use in the war efforts.

In 1954, the Buller family purchased the site. They converted the distillery into their home and subsequently leased out the winery buildings to a number of enterprises.

PART TWO of TWO

Hedgeside Winery & Distillery
Becomes Home to Other Winegrowers
(Now occupied by Del Dotto Vineyards)

Copyright by John M. Olney, June 8, 2005
First published under auspices of http://www.suite101.com/, an online University.

Reference and Bibliography Materials (1) Ghost Wineries of Napa Valley, Haynes, Irene w., 1980, Sally Taylor & Friends. (2) The Pocket Encyclopedia of California Wines, Thompson, Bob 1980 Simon & Schuster . (3) A Sunset Book Guide to California's Wine Country, Thompson, Research & Text, Sep 1982 (3rd ed 1st Pub), Lane Publishing Co. (4) Pocket Encyclopedia of Wine, Johnson, Hugh, 1985, Simon & Schuster (5) Vintners' Choice, Lee, Hilde Gabrial, 1986, Ten Speed Press. (6) Wine Country - A history of Napa Valley - The early years: 1838-1920, Heintz, William, 1990, Capra Press. (7) Wine Spectator’s California Wine, Laube, James, 1995, 1st ed., Wine Spectator Press. (8) The Connoisseurs' Handbook of the Wines of California, Robby, Norman F. and Olken, Charles E., 1998, Alfred Knopf ( 9) Wine Spectator’s California Wine, Laube, James, 1999, 2nd ed., Wine Spectator Press.
( 10) http://gourmetclub.signonsandiego.com/20...

As I reported in the first part, the winery and distillery operations were shut down by the implementation of Prohibition in early 1920. In the mid 1940s the government reopened it to produce industrial grade alcohol during World War II. This production lasted a short period.

In the mid-1950s, The Buller family purchased the property but no wine was fermented nor brandy distilled in the building compound from the 1950s until about 1975 (3) To date, my research efforts have not identified any commercial winery operations at the Hedgeside complex between the U.S. Governments’ production efforts during WW II until 1975, when a John Beckett refurbished the winery building and caves for his wine operation. However, Beckett’s tenure was short lived and he ceased operations after about two years.

The history of wine operations at the building complex started up again with the arrival of Quail Ridge. This winery was founded in 1978, by Elaine Wellesley and her husband, Jesse Corello, but was operating to the west of the City of Napa, in the Mt. Veeder area. Wellesley is related to Richard Colley Wellesley (1760-1842), the first Duke of Wellington. Corello was a movie production manager.(5) She and her deceased husband had started their winemaking careers as home winemakers in the Los Angeles area. They then moved to Napa in 1976. She went on to UC Davis and earned a related degree.

Their future was promising. This is what renown wine writer, Bob Thompson, had say in 1980, " After one stunning success with a basement lot, Jesse Corello decided to launch a winery devoted principally to Chardonnay. First crush, 1978,..released 1980 to instant acclaim." (2) Then in 1981, while tending to a controlled burn in the vineyard some sort of change in wind conditions occurred and Corello was caught in the fire and died. (5) Wellesley was unwilling to stop what the two off them had started. She acquired a new partner.

Leon Santoro’s mother had made wine back when Leon was but a boy growing up in Villa Santa Maria, Italy. He was trained as a chemist but never made wine before.(10 ) He migrated to California, and specifically to Napa California the year after he heard about Steve Spurrier’s French tasting results of 1976. He bounced around several vineyards and wineries, doing odd jobs, anything he could to learn how to make the best wines. His last position was a brief stint at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars with Warren Winarski.

The next step for Wellesley and Santoro was to move the business into the former Hedgeside winery in 1981. This writer was fortunate enough to met them at this winery site in 1986 when I was searching for labels to include on my wine label -poster-map of Napa Valley. They were quite delighted to let me use their label. When I met with them, they were using only the half of the winery building that lead to the caves. The other side was leased to a wood worker. There was nothing elegant about the interior of the old stone winery, especially on the woodworker’s side, where wood chips and dust were flying and adhering to everything. The poster-map was printed and released in 1987, the same year they decided to take their winery operation public via the Toronto Stock Exchange. This is where conducting historical research becomes important. There are two versions about why Quail Ridge was sold the following year.

In the first version, by 1988 the old stone winery building required renovation and improvements were needed to the winemaking equipment. These capital-intensive requirements were beyond the financial means of the Quail Ridge owners. Meanwhile, The Christian Brothers were shopping for a small volume winery with a “hand-crafted image.” Quail Ridge and The Christian Brothers winery operations were a match. (8) No sooner had The Christian Brothers decided to purchase Quail Ridge and make improvements, plus purchase additional vineyard lands, then they alternated their whole business strategy and sold all of their Napa Valley holdings to Heublein, Inc. of Connecticut. Heublein already owned two of the other great wineries of Napa Valley: Inglenook Vineyard Co. (Now known as Niebaum-Coppola Estate Vineyards) and Beaulieu Vineyards. Heublein owned a vast amount additional property in other winery-oriented counties.

In the second version, Leon Santoro describes the sale as coming about following the collapse of the Toronto stock market in November of 1987 which resulted in the subsequent financial collapse of the winery. It was then taken over by The Christian Brothers in the spring of 1988. (10 ) Shortly after that, The Christian Brothers sold off all their Napa Valley holdings to Heublein. Wellesley was retained to continue making the Quail Ridge wine. Santoro moved on to other winery endeavors.

What happens next was a second tragedy for Wellesley. Heublein no longer wanted to continue with the Quail Ridge label. It, along with others, was sold to a new start-up operation called “Rutherford Benchmark” which operated for about three years and then went bust. Wellesley had already moved on to other wine ventures. The label was eventually sold off to Bronco Wine Co. and became one of the six defunct Napa Valley wine labels -- one of which includes the now famous “Two-Buck Chuck” (Charles Shaw) label.

The next winery operation to occupy Hedgeside is that owned by David and Yolanda Del Dotto. They opened their retail winery operation in 1995 at the Hedgeside winery site on a lease, but their 11 acre vineyard estate is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Zinfandel Lane with Hwy 29/128 which is situated just south of the City of St. Helena. It appears that the actual owner of the property is his father, John Del Dotto. ( 9)

The Del Dotto winery web site is short of spectacular but that should not surprise anybody! This is the same David Del Dotto who ran afoul of both state and federal laws including Hawaii and Wisconsin and the internet is filled with pages and pages discussing the ventures of David Del Dotto. What his winery web pages do not show are the many court documents exposing general unpublished facts about Del Dotto Some of these facts are: (1) The IRS lien on his Hawaii house in 1993. (2) Hawaii sued him for nonpayment of $5,000,000 in loans in 1995. (3) In 1995, he filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy. (4) In the same year, his corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 1996, he agreed to pay a $200,000 fine to the Federal Trade Commission of the U.S. Government for misrepresentation in his real estate “get rich quick schemes.” All of this, and he still lands on his feet in Napa Valley producing highly rated and respected wines on some of the most expensive property in the valley.

The Del Dotto’s have invested heavily in renovating the Hedgeside facility into an absolutely spectacular hospitality tool by which to sell their very expensive wines. Just a view of their website will show you what I mean. You can find out all you want to know about David Del Dotto by just running a general internet search on his name. Be prepared to click on to many sites to read and draw your own conclusions.

Creation of Niebaum-Coppola Estate (Inglenook Vineyards)

The following historical review was first published under the purview of

Suite 101.com, in its History Category, under Elegant Old Wineries.

The Stories Underlying
The Niebaum-Coppola Estate
( Owned by Movie Mogul Francis Ford Coppola
Their web site: http://www.niebaum-coppola.com/site.php )

Part One- The Real Origins of Inglenook Vineyards
Copyright: By John M. Olney, June 20, 2005

Sources: (1)www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article102e.htm#Alku -- The Cabin Boy Who Became a Multimillionaire, K-G Olin; (2) web site “Oldandsold.com” (3) www.cagenweb.com/archives/biographies/napa/napa-nieb.htm/ INGLENOOK - GUSTAVE NIEBAUM (4) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase (5)www.krpga.org/kenai-history.html,

Inglenook vineyards and winery existed before the arrival of Gustaf Ferdinand Nybom -- later he would Americanize the name to Gustave Niebaum -- when a portion of the property was owned by one William Campbell Watson (See separate story on same). But, it was Gustave who would be one of the early winegrowers to establish the reputation of Napa Valley to produce fine wines equal to the quality of the French. The story of Niebaum’s arrival in Napa Valley is filled with associations with many men who would also claim Napa as their home and/or major vacation spot away from “The City.” The associations would prove fruitful among all of these “Gentleman Winegrowers of San Francisco. “

Born in Helsinki, Finland in 1842, Gustave apparently had a fondness for the seas of the world. At age sixteen, in1858, he became a cabin boy aboard one of the ships of the Russian American Company who had established a flourishing fur trading business throughout all of Alaska. Following his first voyage, he obviously fell madly in love with the high seas as he immediately began his formal schooling to earn his qualifications as a ship’s Master at the age of nineteen. Only two years later he was Captain of his own ship plying the waters of the North Pacific once again for the Russian American Company.

During the next three years, Gustave navigated throughout the Aleutian Island and mainland villages of Alaska, the Bering Sea and Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia negotiating with the village for the fur skins of almost any animal in the region. He had become an expert on the water, land, animal resources and human inhabitants of the entire North Pacific. This expertise was about to place him in high demand with prominent businessman of San Francisco.

The company constructed forts in Alaska and California. Fort Ross, just north of San Francisco, was the southern-most outpost of the Russian America Company and was used as a great farmland to provide provisions for the Alaskan-based employees of the company and their families. (When the Russians shut down operations, John Sutter - of Sutter’s Fort fame - bought all the Fort Ross property) Originally a private business concern, the Russian American Company had been on the decline for a number of years and the Russian government was compelled to take it over. Eager to avoid the continual drains on the Russian economy to support the declining fur trade business, the Russian Czar saw the sale of the territory as a means to improve cash flow and to rid itself of a barren wasteland. Little did the Czar know what resources “Seward’s Follie” held for others to exploit!

Part Two- The Real Origins of Inglenook Vineyards
Copyright by John M. Olney, June 20, 2005

Sources: (1) www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article102e.htm#Alku -- The Cabin Boy Who Became a Multimillionaire, K-G Olin; (2) web site “Oldandsold.com”; (3) www.cagenweb.com/archives/biographies/napa/napa-nieb.htm/ INGLENOOK - GUSTAVE NIEBAUM ; (4) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase (5)www.krpga.org/kenai-history.html ;

William H. Seward was a lawyer and politician. In 1856, he lost the presidential nomination to John C. Frémont, the primary undeclared force behind the Bear Flag revolters who staged the take-over of California by capturing General Mariano Vallejo in the town of Sonoma. In 1860, Seward ran again but his success was doomed by a man named Abraham Lincoln. Being a good party man, Seward threw his support behind Lincoln and proceeded on a speaking tour on his behalf throughout the western U.S. during 1860. For his loyalty and support, Abraham Lincoln appointed Seward to the cabinet position of Secretary of State in 1861; the same year the Civil War began. Ironically, Seward was a victim of an unsuccessful assassination attempt (repeated stabbings) on the same day that Lincoln was assassinated - April 14, 1864. The perpetrator was a known associate of Booth who had shot Lincoln. Andrew Johnson followed Lincoln as President and reappointed Seward to continue as Secretary of State.

As Secretary of State, Seward fought for the purchase of the Alaskan frontier as a believer in the concepts of “Manifest Destiny,” and the continued western expansion of the U.S. It was Russia who initially approached the United States about selling the territory during President James Buchanan’s tenure (1857-61), but the coming of the Civil War trumped any meaningful negotiations. However, following the conclusion of the war in 1865, Seward picked up the cause for purchasing the massive territory. A great number of Congressional representatives did not agree with him, nor did many in the press for it was the latter who nicknamed the efforts “Seward’s Follie” or “Seward’s Icebox,“ and “Johnson’s Polar Bear Gardens.“ In the end, however, Seward prevailed but by the slim margin of only a single vote in the Senate (held on April 9, 1867). The purchase was effective on March 30, 1867; the day the Treaty was sign with the Russian Government. The actual withdrawal of Russian occupancy of Alaska did not occur until mid-October of the same year. Alaska celebrates the purchase on “Seward‘s Day,” the last Monday of March.

In the same year, all of the assets (stores, ships and miscellaneous properties) of the Russian American Company were divided and purchased between two U.S. companies: Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. and Hansen, Nybom & Co. The latter company included the young Finlander, Gustaf Ferdinand Nybom (later changed to Gustave Niebaum). Niebaum foresaw the potential for full commercialization of the massive territory. He made full use of this rare opportunity of being “at the right spot at the right time.” He had already developed a sizeable collection of sealskins as well as other valuable furs. With the sale of Alaska to the United States completed, Niebaum commenced his journey to San Francisco loaded down with his valuable furs. In 1868, at the age of only twenty-six, he arrived in San Francisco Bay with a fur skin cargo estimated to be worth over half a million dollars.

The two companies in turn merged to become the Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) in 1868. The founders of the Alaska Commercial Company were among the prominent Jewish families of San Francisco. The company’s first president was Louis Sloss, and Lewis Gerstle was its first vice-president. Among the original stockholders were Simon Greenewald, Hayward M. Hutchinson, Albert Boscowitz, William Kohl, August Wasermann Gustave Niebaum, and General John F. Miller. Sea Captain Niebaum's extensive knowledge of the waters, animals and inhabitants of the territory would prove invaluable to the new company and its partner-owners; so much so that they made him the youngest partner in the operation.

Part Three- The Real Origins of Inglenook Vineyards
Copyright By John M. Olney, July 2, 2005 All rights reserved

Sources Books: (1)Historical and Descriptive Sketchbook of Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino, 1873, Menefee, C. A., Reporter Publishing House (1993); (2) Illustrations of Napa County, California: Historical Sketch, Oakland, 1878, Smith & Elliot; (3) History of Napa Co. California, 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers; (4) History of Napa County, Wallace, W. E., 1901, Enquirer Print; (5) Wine Country - A History of Napa Valley - The early years: 1838-1920, Heintz, Wm., 1990, Capra Pres:

Sources Internet: (1) www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article102e.htm#Alku -- The Cabin Boy Who Became a Multimillionaire, K-G Olin; (2) web site “Oldandsold.com”; (3) www.cagenweb.com/archives/biographies/napa/napa-nieb.htm/ INGLENOOK - GUSTAVE NIEBAUM ; (4) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase (5)www.krpga.org/kenai-history.html ; (6) http://www.uchastings.edu/ ; (7) website: relocateamerica.com

The cast of characters associated with and/or surrounding Gustave Niebaum and his involvement in the Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) in the late 1870-80s reads like a who’s who of business and politics of both the developed USA (east of the Mississippi) and the developing state of California. He had partners in the ACC who were already entrenched in the business and social structure of Napa Valley. He would marry into the “right” San Francisco family and he would become the head of what was obviously one the most important companies operating out of San Francisco. I compare the ACC in its day to the modern multi-millionaire-generator, Microsoft. Many early ACC shareholders, and especially its original founders, were made millionaires off the company’s business success.

In 1869, Serranus Clinton Hastings, California’s first Chief Justice (1850s)of the State Supreme Court and winegrower in Napa Valley traveled with his friend, William H. Seward, to the Alaskan territory. This was Seward’s first visit to the newly acquired property he had fought so hard for among the two legislative bodies of Congress. Another soon-to-be Napan located in Alaska at this time was John A. Fuller. He arrived there in 1866 and became a Councilman for the town of Sitka, which is located on the Pacific Coastline, west of Juneau. His civilian job was agent for the Russian American Company in its closing days. Fuller had arranged for a large amount of yellow cedar to be milled and given to the then-Governor Seward for his library in New York. Fuller would, in 1872, come to Napa and become a prominent citizen of the community holding such prestigious positions as Mayor of Napa (1899). Today, he is honored with a park on the western outskirts of downtown Napa named after him.

Following a two-year stint as Chief Justice, Hastings became California’s Attorney General for a term of two years. In 1853, the Judge retired from government serve to focus his attentions on his various investments in private enterprise which were mostly concentrated in Napa and Lake Counties.. He moved from his San Francisco home to his property in Rutherford, located just south of St. Helena in Napa Valley. He named this property, “ Madrone Villa,” and he owned vineyards and a small winery that he called “Nook Farm.” His property consisted of three parcels: “Home Farm” was 28 acres southwest of Rutherford; closer to Rutherford were two parcels one 33 acres and the other 43 acres, all planted in grape vines mostly of foreign varietal. All of this property was on the western side of what is now known as Highway 29.

In 1878, he provided a gift of $100,000 to the State, to establish what became the now famous ”Hasting College of Law,” located in San Francisco and is part of the University of California system. He was appointed its first dean.

At the intersection of Highway 29 and Rutherford Cross Road, on the western side, was located the vineyards and winery of William Campbell Watson who had originally designated the name of his property as “Inglenook,” which is Scottish and translates into something like “fireside corner.” Watson was born 1843, and moved to California in the early 1860s. In 1864, he married Elizabeth Anne Davis, a native of San Francisco California. Her Grandfather was George Yount, the first frontiersman to settle in Napa Valley and the first to receive a Mexican Land Grant (Rancho Caymus) back in 1838. Her elder sister was the first Anglo-Saxon child born in San Francisco in April of 1845. The town of Yountville - originally called Sebastopol - was named after George Yount.

Watson was a director at Bank of Napa. He was one of the original officers of the Bank which was organized in 1871. His position was Secretary and Cashier. He remained Cahier for 10 years. He purchased his land in the mid-1800s. It was part of the original Mexican Land Grant given to George Yount. Watson created a magnificent estate on the property which stretched west from what is now called Highway 29 up the rolling hills of the Mayacamas Mountain range. In 1879, Watson sold his property to Gustave Niebaum. I still have not found the reason why Watson decided to sell off the great estate but my research continues.

Two years after he established the Hastings Law School. in 1880, Judge Hastings sold his Nook Farm To Niebaum As can been seen from the previous summaries of Judge Hasting business involvements, it appears that Judge Hasting and Sea Captain Niebaum had many common associates. Why Hastings sold his Rutherford holdings when he did has not yet been revealed to me, but I continue researching for an answer.

Completing land buying spree of Niebaum, was his purchase of “Mrs. D. S. Ruhlwing's farm.” Located adjacent to the Inglenook property. To date I have found little discussion about this property but my research continues for more information.

The winegrowing business had been good to all, especially in the north valley area around St. Helena. All of the directors of the newly formed Bank of St. Helena in 1882 came from the winegrowing industry. They included Charles Krug (of the great Krug Estate now owned by Peter Mondavi Family), Seneca Ewer (of Ewer & Atkinson - now Beaulieu owned by Diageo of Great Britain), Judge Serranus Clinton Hastings (of Nook Farms in Rutherford, which was also purchased by Niebaum and absorbed into the now much larger Inglenook Vineyard Company). William Whittingham Lyman (now El Molino winery), William Scheffler (of Edge Hill winery/distillery - now owned by Leslie Rudd), Gustave Niebaum ( Inglenook Vineyard Company- now owned by Francis Ford Coppola), Henry W. Crabb (of To-Kalon vineyards - purchased by Robert Mondavi Winery who is now owned by Constellation), and other major winery and vineyard owners of the times. (Incidentally, today, the Bank of St. Helena building is one of the hot nightlife clubs in Napa County. It is called the “1351 Lounge” and named after the street address. Even the original bank vault door remains in the back of the club.)

The second of Hastings’ four daughters, Flora A. Hastings, married W. S. Keyes, the son of General Erasmas D. Keyes who created what would become “Edge Hill Winery & Distillery,” located on White Sulphur Creek Road, St. Helena. (now owned by Leslie Rudd). in 1888, W. S. and , Flora Keyes built “La Liparita Vineyard” winery (now owned by Bob and Fern Burrows), located up on Howell Mountain, just south of the city of Angwin. Judge Hastings died in 1893