The Ladera story is a tale of two vineyards, almost at opposite ends of the Napa Valley. Their terrains and their histories are very different. Lone Canyon Vineyard on the flank of Mt. Veeder ranges in altitude up to 1,100 feet; some areas are so rugged and steep it's difficult to stand upright. Ladera's Howell Mountain property ranges in altitude from 1,600 feet to 1,800 feet: a gently rolling terrain, but set on a plateau high above the Napa Valley floor. Our name reminds us of the virtue they share- both produce the distinctly intense fruit of well-drained hillside and mountain vineyards.
The founders of these vineyards came from very different backgrounds, but they had this in common: they were adventurers as well as winemakers. They were willing to leave the more easily farmed valley floor for a risky and labor-intensive experiment that they believed would improve the quality of their wines.
Lone Canyon Ranch was once a small part of Mariano Vallejo's vast holdings, a portion of which was given as a gift to George Yount in the 1830's. He in turn gave a portion of the land to Charles Hopper, who planted his first vines in the area in 1877. Hopper was a trapper and trader who came to California in 1841 with the first immigrant wagon train. The narrative of his adventures includes tales of keeping starvation at bay by eating grizzly bears and their own mules, and confrontations not only with the native Indians but with General Vallejo himself. In January of 1997, when Ladera purchased Lone Canyon Ranch, remnants of an overgrown early vineyard could still be seen on rugged canyon slopes- the Napa Valley version of a Wild West ghost town.
