Timeline

1877
Owners Adolph Brun and Jean Chaix built and operated the winery they called Nouveau Medoc Winery. (Southern-most section of today’s winery)

1892
The Bartolucci Brothers built the Madonna Winery where they produced wine and brandy before and after prohibition. (Northern section of today's winery)

1916
Brun & Chaix sell the winery to the California Wine Association.

1937-1940
Covick Company purchased the winery from the California Wine Association and produced "sacramental wines" at the winery during the "dry years" in small lots using small oak cooperage.

1940-1947
Louis Stralla, one of the founding members of the Napa Valley Vintners Association, purchased the building for $14,500 in a foreclosure and promptly named it The Napa Wine Company. Producing wines under the Betsy Ross label, Stralla changed the winemaking focus to a much larger scaled volume. He would sell in 1947 what had grown into the largest independent winery in the Valley.

1947
Louis Stralla sold to John Cella of Cella Vineyards / Roma Wine Company.

1961
Already members of the Allied Grape Growers, Cella eventually sold completely out to United Vintners.

1969
Bartolucci Brothers close business and the lease goes to Alfred Von Loben Sels who produces Oakville Vineyards.

1977
The Von Loben Sels sale to United Vintners unites the two properties.

1981
United Vintners sold to Heublein, new owners of the Inglenook brand. The facility undergoes a refurbishing and expands to the second building becoming the Chardonnay Production cellar for their Inglenook Wines and one of the first temperature cellars controlled for barrel fermentation.

1993
The entire building is purchased by the Pelissa family who invest over a million dollars to convert the large-volume production facility into the smaller-production focus and specialization it's known for today.

1997
Three of the top ten WINE SPECTATOR Best Wines of the year are produced at Napa Wine Company.

1998
The first Sales & Tasting Room on the property is opened to the public. The room is host to 24 Alternating Proprietors making wine at Napa Wine Company.

2001
The company constructs an underground press pit.

2002
Napa Wine Company is the first facility in the Napa Valley to install a screw cap bottling line. This equipment allows the Company to assist many wineries with this alternative closure.

2006
Napa Wine Company installs an Ultra Premium Sorting System coupled with the Le Trieur™ designed by P&L Specialties.

2007
Two new presses are purchased to execute more state-of-the-art system.

"Napa Wine Company offers limited production wineries such as Blackbird Vineyards the opportunity to produce premium wines at the highest technical and operational level. Since Blackbird's first vintage in 2003, our winemaker Sarah Gott has been able to utilize the array of resources available, such as "Le Trieur" premium sorting system, to craft exceptional Napa Valley wines."
Michael Polenske, Proprietor
Blackbird Vineyards