History
Dr. Crane's 1858 planting makes this among the oldest continuously farmed vineyard ground in Napa; in the 1920s the city's Chinatown stood on the site. Andy Beckstoffer acquired the parcel in 1997, replanted it in 1998 to multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon with Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, and in 2018 placed it under a conservation easement that forever prohibits non-agricultural development.
The Site
Twenty-five gross acres, 21 plantable, west of Route 29 inside the city of St. Helena, on gravelly loam that holds and radiates the day's heat.
Vines and Blocks
Cabernet Sauvignon in multiple clones with Petit Verdot and a rare Cabernet Franc block that TOR usually co-ferments.
The Wines
Dr. Crane designates from Realm, TOR, Arrow and Branch, whose inaugural designate was the 2012, and Myriad are fixtures of the cult Cabernet era: dark, sweet-tannined St. Helena fruit with the site's signature warmth. The Salvestrin family farms a separate piece of Crane's original holdings nearby.