issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . august 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message stony hill vineyard type private family owned industry wine founded 1952 founder fred and eleanor mccrea headquarters napa valley 3 miles 4.8 km north of st. helena on the western slope of the napa valley saint helena california united states area served u.s. key people proprietors peter and willinda mccrea winemaker mike chelini office manager courtney murray products wine services tastings by appointment m f 9 5 number of employees c. 10 website http www.stonyhillvineyard.com stony hill vineyard is located south of the bothe napa valley state park in the northern reaches of the city of saint helena california . the vineyard is a family owned business which remained under family control after the death of the founders in 1977 . annual output as of 2007 was 3 400 cases from 40 planted acres 160 000 m2 c. 60 % of which are planted with chardonnay . the vineyard s business model focuses on mail order sales direct to individuals in california and indirectly to individuals in other states of the united states as well as sales to fine dining restaurants in major metropolitan areas in the united states . contents 1 history 2 references 3 external links 4 images history edit in 1943 san francisco advertising executive fred mccrea and his wife eleanor bought 160 acres 0.65 km2 of homestead land on the west slope of the napa valley north of st. helena . the name stony hill vineyard evolved when they cultivated their first chardonnay fields in 1947 followed shortly by plantings of pinot blanc white riesling gewurztraminer and semillon . their first harvest was in 1952 and they sold their first chardonnay in 1954 . winemaker mike chelini came to stony hill in 1972 first as vineyard foreman and then as winemaker when fred died in 1977 . since then mike has overseen both vineyard and winery operations supervising six full time year round employees who hand tend the vines and hand pick the grapes . recently mike incorporated napa county s fish friendly farming and napa green practices in the vineyards . peter and willinda mccrea the founders son and daughter in law inherited stony hill in 1991 when eleanor died and continue to run the business today . the winery was one of the first in california to achieve a commercial status that eventually came to be called cult . wineries in this group enjoyed demand that they could not supply leaving the wines especially sought after at all levels of the market . two decisions seem to have made this possible first the commercial decision not to pursue wine sales through normal wholesale channels ; second the winemaking decision to maintain a rigorous commitment to a simple direct and classical expression of a singular vineyard site and a complete disregard for changing fashions in winemaking or consumer appeal . the mccreas pioneered the now common model of a winery s direct relationship to its final consumers through a mailing list and because of the great demand eventually created a waiting list for their wines . this model was rare when they began to cultivate it but is widespread and even industry standard now . the winery s cult status might have faded somewhat as trophy wines based on cabernet sauvignon not chardonnay took the fore in the 1990s and early 2000s but now under the effect of a pendulum swing in sommeliers and journalists tastes the winery has returned to a cult status with fervent demand from new generations of consumers . 1 stony hill vineyard overlook the valley references edit http www.7x7.com eat drink newold california wines lower scoring and highly delicious external links edit stony hill vineyard the creation of a napa valley estate winery oral history transcript 1990 . university of california libraries bancroft library . regional oral history office . retrieved 2007 11 29 . images edit stony hill vineyard winery retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title stony hill vineyard & oldid 742160472 categories wineries in napa valleycompanies established in 1952companies based in napa county california1952 establishments in californiast . helena californiaamerican companies established in 1952food and drink companies established in 1952hidden categories articles needing additional references from november 2007all articles needing additional referenceswikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from august 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 2 october 2016 at 01 45 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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