Frank Family Vineyards

Recently named #1 Napa Winery on the interactive city guide The SFGate BayList, and the San Francisco Chronicle’s Readers’ Choice for Best Tasting Room in the Napa Valley, Frank Family Vineyards owes its popularity to its friendly staff, elegant wines, and no-frills style of hospitality.

A pale yellow 1930s Craftsman home, recently renovated with authentic accents and recycled redwood floors and beams, houses the tasting room. Guests are greeted at the front of the house with a sparkling wine and then shown to the back, where they sample distinctive Frank Family Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, and Port wines.

“We want everyone who walks through our tasting room doors to feel welcome and to taste the best wine of their lives,” owner Rich Frank, a former president of Disney Studios, explains. Co-owner Connie Frank adds, “We offer both sparkling and still wine, giving our visitors a complete wine experience.”

Rich and Connie started the winery in 1992 with a 25-acre vineyard parcel in Rutherford, now known as Winston Hill. Their vineyard acreage has multiplied more than eight times since then to 200-plus premium acres throughout the region. This inspires their Winemaker Todd Graff, who enthuses, “Many of our vineyards have now reached the maturity it takes to compete with some of the greatest wines in the Napa Valley.”

Not far from the convivial tasting room, a historic stone building originally constructed as the Larkmead Winery in 1884 is still in operation. Now listed on the National Register of Historical Places and as a Point of Historical Interest in the State of California, the building has a storied cellar where Todd handcrafts Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, and Rouge in the traditional French méthode champenoise.