The entrance to Far Niente
1350 Acacia Dr, Oakville, CA 94562
Website: http://farniente.com/
Far Niente is an Italian phrase that means “without a care”. This phrase is carved into stone on the front of this historic winery. The winery was founded in 1885 by John Benson during the Gold Rush era. The building was designed by Hamden McIntyre, the same architect who created the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (formerly Christian Brothers Winery), Trefethen, and Inglenook wineries. This is a gravity flow winery, which means that there is very little man-handling of the grapes. The gravity or leveling of the winery allows the grapes to move naturally from one area to another. This winery was abandoned during Prohibition and later purchased by Gil Nickel in 1979. He was also the owner of Nickel and Nickel down the road before he passed away. His wife and kids now run the winery. Gil restored the property after he purchased it, and it is now on the National Register of Historical Places. Gil was also able to acquire the original 1886 Sweet Muscat, believed to be oldest California wine in existence that was found in a wine cellar in Marin County.
Far Niente produces two varietals of wine, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The winery also owns Dolce, its sister winery, which produces a late harvest wine often referred to as “liquid gold”. The only way to sample any of these wines without purchasing them is to reserve a tour. Advance reservations are needed.
A view of the Mayacamas Mountains behind Far Niente
I found the real beauty of this winery to be the property, more than the wines themselves. The property includes 13 acres of gardens. Driving into the winery, we drove down a long drive lined by trees. Then we drove past green fields of vines with a gorgeous view of the Mayacamas Mountains. It was stunning!
The fountains and pond at Far Niente
As we drove up to the building, we parked beside a pond with bubbling fountains. Next we walked along a pathway between the parking lot and winery surrounded by flowers and pretty bushes. The entrance is actually on the upper level of the winery. As we walked through the doors, there was a sign greeting guests with our names on it. They had our names because only guests with prior reservation are permitted into the winery. It was a nice little touch. Inside the waiting area there was a vintage-looking couch in front of a fire place and a wooden spiral staircase leading to a floor above. We waited there for a few minutes for our small tour group of 8 to gather.
Barrels of Dolce wine inside Far Niente’s wine cave
The tour started out just outside the winery where our tour guide talked about the history of the property. Then we ventured into the wine caves. This winery has over 40,000 ft. of wine caves. Work on the first 60 ft. of caves started in 1980. Almost 10 years later, a 3-phased expansion began that was completed in 2001. The modern caves are impressive. In the center of the cave is a wine library where we stopped to take pictures. The winery keeps bottles of past vintages on hand and releases a limited amount of their aged wines each year. Within the wine cave there is also a section for their Dolce wines. There is a gate labeled Dolce that separates the barrels for the late harvest wine from all of Far Niente’s other wines.
Gil Nickel’s car collection
One of the other highlights of the tour was getting to walk through the Carriage House where Gil Nickel’s rare car collection resides. The collection includes cars from America, Britain, and Italy. Gil collected everything from classic sports cars, elegant high-end models like Alfa Romeos, motorcycles and new advancements in technology. Our tour guide informed us that the cars are not just there to look pretty. The family actually takes them out for a drive now and then to ensure they are in good working condition.
We finished up our tour back inside with a sit down tasting. We sampled two Chardonnays, two Cabernet Sauvignons including an older vintage from 2006, and the Dolce. The wines were paired with a cheese plate. Our guide was really pushing the wine club, not surprisingly since the wines are upwards from $65 for the Chardonnay and over $100 for Cabernet Sauvignon. I feel like I didn’t appreciate the wine as much as I should have considering how pricey and hard to get they are, but I did enjoy the tour. It was a nice way to end our trip in Napa Valley.