Parador Cellars

Parador Napa Valley is dedicated to producing Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon at the highest level of quality, in hopes of gracing the same tables as other inspired wines from around the world.

After 18 years in the wine industry, from merchant to wholesaler, I embarked upon a quest to make top quality Tempranillo from Napa Valley. Inspired by wines that have become legends in the Ribera del Duero, such as Pequera and Vega Sicilia, and create a new world brother to those across continents, my journey started in Spain in March 1998. It was then that I was able to procure Tempranillo cuttings from the Ribera del Duero, propagate those into plantable vines, and have a small vineyard developed for our project here in Napa.

Now, after 16 harvests, Parador stands as the only Napa Valley producer still, that makes Tempranillo the focal point of its production!

Napa, of course, is also recognized as one of the few places in the world, along with Bordeaux and the Tuscan coast, where Cabernet Sauvignon is at its best.

It is with these great resources that we create our wines:

Tempranillo & Cabernet Sauvignon

Our production allows a look into these varieties on a level of purity - unblended varietals, to the complex variations of the two varieties blended together. With additional small lot barrel selections, based upon the concept of Spanish Reservas, cuvées that are given longer barrel and bottle aging, the wines become truly complex and unique, especially in this world of rush-to-market releases.

All are cellar-worthy, which we now know from our sixteen harvests of production. Many of our finest California restaurants feature past vintages that we stubbornly held in reserve, in order to prove our wines stand the test of time, just as do revered vintages from Europe!

As Orson Welles used to say on behalf of Paul Masson, "...we will sell no wine before it's time!"

Steve Ventrello