30 Dec Wine Country Aerie

Twenty-five years ago, a biotech executive and his wife sought a weekend escape from their San Francisco-area house. The Napa Valley town of St. Helena sounded like a good idea, even though they weren’t into wine. All they wanted was a simple turn-key house. But after a stretch of fruitless searching, their real estate agent called and suggested taking a ride to see a property outside Calistoga that he knew they wouldn’t want, but that he had to go see, and so, why not drive up with him?

A sweeping view across the vineyard to the house, the Jericho Valley, and Mount St. Helena beyond.

“I can’t explain it,” the husband says. “We were looking for a place that was just a weekender that needed no work. No pool. No vineyard. We drove up to the side of Mount St. Helena, turned a corner, and I fell in love. Our agent didn’t get it. He said, ‘There’s no house here. The vineyards haven’t been touched in 20 years.’”

Viewed from the driveway is the dormer from the original house. The pool and decks are also visible, but the addition, which is clad in local stone, remains hidden.

The 50-acre property was on a plunging, rocky hillside with nothing but a garage housing a derelict tractor. At first, the couple stuck to their plan for a low-key dwelling, and simply transformed the garage into a gabled one-bedroom escape. “It was pretty rough, but it was fun,” the husband says. “We put in a fireplace, and it was great.”

An Arterra-designed picnic area with a massive pizza oven borders the rear of the new addition. The dining area features a picnic table that seats 20. Gravel matches the home’s stone cladding.

Some years later, they added a second bedroom and bathroom, redid the kitchen, added eaves on the house, and installed flower boxes. That, they were convinced, would be the final renovation.

Along the way and despite not being into wine, the husband thought, “Why not plant some grapes? How tough could it be, right?”

He clearly had no idea how much creating a vineyard would cost or how challenging it would be to plant on a mountainside at 1,500 feet, in soil that was volcanic and rocky from a centuries-old landslide. But the first grape harvest attracted interest from established wineries. A reputable firm was hired to manage the vineyard, and a luxury winery purchased the grapes, producing two barrels for the landowners as part of the deal.

Morning fog obscures the valley and lends an ephemeral quality to the view.

A few years later, the then-preeminent wine critic Robert Parker rated their cabernet sauvignon 90+, then 93+. More recently, wine critic Antonio Galloni stated that the vineyard could be one of the best spots in Napa. It worked, not exactly financially, but it was such a success that the wines now sell for $100 a bottle.

A fireplace connects the study and primary suite. Alper designed rift oak millwork that warms the expansive room and reflects the gold of winter grass. The lounge chair and ottoman are Italian Shelter by RH, and the area rug is from San Francisco-based Vaheed Taheri.

“I find myself a vintner,” the husband muses. “Completely unintentional; an unintentional, naïve vintner.”

In the middle of all this, he and a colleague started another biotech firm, which they sold in 2019. Suddenly, the couple had the extra funds for a major renovation to transform their weekend house into a permanent home. They talked to a few architects, all of whom wanted to tear down the original house, which was a no-go. They had too much history in the house to give it up. It had been their refuge for years. They knew they wanted to renovate the existing house and create a modern addition with a master bedroom and a study, two things they’d never had. What they didn’t want was an ostentatious mansion.

The primary suite is flooded with light through sliding doors and clerestory windows. Custom rift oak frames a window seat made by Michael’s Custom Built Upholstery, covered in Brentano Fabrics.

One day, the husband was “doom-scrolling,” checking out house designs, when he came across one he really liked. The family-run construction firm Total Concepts was listed, so he called and asked for the architect’s name. It was Amy Alper, who had worked with Total Concepts three times by then, and a meeting between the owners, Total Concepts, and Alper sealed the deal.

“Amy totally got what we wanted to do,” the owner says. Alper was immediately drawn to the drama of the site. “Engaging with the view is always foremost in my mind,” she says. She’d worked on several projects with panoramic wine country vistas; creating designs that seamlessly blend into their surroundings has been her passion. Here, the hillside falls away to the Jericho Valley below, then rises again in distant hillsides.

Tasteful interior decoration is by Rochelle Silberman Design. Saint Louis slab by Haussmann faces the living room fireplace. The lounge chair is U Turn by Bensen.

“It’s a place of many moods,” Alper says. “Some mornings the valley is shrouded in clouds, which gives a sense of solitude. It’s ever-changing. There can be mist, fog, or sunshine, depending on the time of day. And the area is rich with vernacular agricultural forms that set a precedent.”

One of her favorite elements of the new house is the entryway, from which only the updated original house and the pool are visible, but the procession through the additions reveals the spacious modern design.

The kitchen, like all the new rooms, offers striking panoramic views. Island countertop is Perla Venata quartzite from All Natural Stone, and the backsplash is Chalet by Cepac Tile.

“The original house was very small and needed to be augmented,” Alper explains. “So, it’s subsumed by two additions. One wraps around the original house. That allowed us to extend the living room into the new addition. The kitchen and dining room didn’t exist before.” The upstairs has two guest rooms. The space is now filled with windows and natural light, offering sweeping views, and it’s clad in local stone from Syar Industries.

A terrace runs along the new addition, creating a sense of union with the outdoors. At the back of the house is a separate downstairs room with a Murphy bed for extra guests, and it’s where the wife teaches yoga. The rear walls, not visible from the addition, are calming gray-beige board and batten made of Hardie Panel Siding, a fiber cement material resistant to fire, rainstorms, and insects.

The living room was doubled in size, and here the deeper shade of wall color sets off the lighter furnishings. The Dellarobbia sofa is from KCC Modern Living, and the Thaddeus Glass coffee table and the wall sconces are from RH.

“There was a request for a substantial study,” Alper says, “where the owner might also have wine tastings.” The master suite and its spa-like, separate tub room with corner windows are down the hall beyond the study, completely private. The two large rooms are full of light, and here the terrace has two sections, one shaded with a trellis, the other an awning. Both of these elements lie under clerestory windows that provide even more light and circulation.

In the primary suite, the custom bed and end tables are by RMS Designs. The wall and bedside scones are from Cerno.

At the end of the deck, a staircase leads down to the stunning 50-foot infinity pool and a terrace that’s divided into three outdoor “rooms”: one with lounge chairs, one with a wood dining table, and the third with an L-shaped, luxurious seating area warmed by a firepit. All of this was designed by Gretchen Whittier, a partner in Arterra Landscape Architects, and despite the challenging topography, it was well worth the effort. It truly completes the house.

In the dining room, sliding glass doors provide a romantic connection with the stunning landscape. Bess chairs are by Calligaris, and the table is from KCC Modern Living.

“When you’re sitting with your back to the lower deck, the world just falls away,” Alper says. “It’s like no one else exists. It’s stunning.”

Arterra is also well-versed in plants that should never be placed close to grapes, as well as what to avoid in the fire-prone hillsides. “We really wanted to provide them with year-round color and interest,” Whittier says. “The local gravel matches the natural stone, and for a site like that, with a view like that, we wanted things to blend in but still have pops of color and interest, but nothing shocking.”

To enhance the relaxation and privacy of the primary suite, the owners requested a separate tub room with glass windows that connect to the outdoors. The tub itself is from MTI Baths.

The owners couldn’t be happier. The husband, who seems unable to retire, has started another biotech firm, which entails late-night calls overseas. The study now has comfortable seating and feels like a second living room, but he loves that the wall between the bedroom and the study has a fireplace open to both rooms, so he feels close to his wife without disturbing her with late-night calls.

As for the tasting room idea, that never happened. The couple entertains guests outdoors by the pool or in a side area with a pizza oven and a wooden table that seats 20.

It’s a long way from the little cottage that grew from a garage, but its spirit remains, and their 25-year love affair with the property has been fulfilled.