History
Dr. George Belden Crane, a physician from New York, bought 335 acres at St. Helena in 1859, planted that year, and from 1861 was among the first in Napa to commit to European vinifera varieties; his winery, built in the early 1860s, burned in 1894 and he died in 1898 at ninety-one. Giovanni Salvestrin, who had emigrated from Cavaso del Tomba in 1912, bought roughly 22 acres of the Crane holdings with his wife Emma in February 1932, mid-Prohibition. Ed Salvestrin farmed it while working three decades at the St. Helena post office; grandson Rich Salvestrin, a Fresno State viticulture graduate, made the first family wine in 1994 and completed the estate winery in 2001. His daughters Hannah and Emma are the fourth generation on the land.
The Site
The estate adjoins the town blocks of St. Helena with 14.5 planted acres, farmed continuously to vines since Crane's first planting. The famous Beckstoffer Dr. Crane parcel nearby traces to the same original holdings, bought by Beckstoffer in 1997 and replanted the next year; the two are separate properties sharing one historic name.
Vines and Blocks
Cabernet Sauvignon leads, with Petite Sirah, Sangiovese, Merlot and Zinfandel across the small estate.
The Wines
Salvestrin's estate wines, about 4,500 cases a year including Dr. Crane designates, carry the site's history directly: St. Helena Cabernet of dark, supple depth grown where Napa's vinifera era began.