Enjoy Without Prejudice
A boutique, single-vineyard Napa Valley label. Ninety-nine cases from one and six-tenths of an acre, four hundred feet above the fog.
Our Reason
The Philosophy
We respect how many cultures have given their lives to the creation of wine. The palate has no prejudice. The harmony you taste within our bottle is a pure representation of the morals that we speak.
Our harvest begins in the beginning of Fall for Cabernet Sauvignon. When you invest in our wine, you're investing in a past harvest. The berries are pressed and stored in a vessel of glass.
They are the ghosts of that vintage. A fingerprint in time.
Our team consists of artists, winemakers, curators of culture and dreamers. Enjoy this ancient concoction without prejudice.
Acquisitions
Current Release
Allocations are small by design. Bottles are secured through our store; sets and pre-sales are arranged directly with us.
Inaugural Release · Black Label
To the outsider, Diamond Mountain is unheard of. To the local, it is a legend, a mystery, even described by some as a ghost. Fog from the Pacific cloaks the vineyard morning and evening, letting powerful vines rest after a long day of stress and ripening. Ours sits surrounded by evergreen trees.
The Ascension of Hope · Red Label
The second vintage of the red label. Cabernet Franc from the historic Storybook Vineyard at the northern end of Napa Valley, blended with Merlot from old vines in the Frediani Vineyard. Notes of cherry and spice. Made to be drunk on release — thirty-six months in barrel have already softened it.
$80750 ml
Buy
The Ascension of Hope II
Sophistication and complexity in a bottle, still delivering the blueberry notes we love from this appellation. The label depicts a firefighter making an offering of a California Golden Poppy — resilience, and a new tomorrow for California.
$100750 ml
BuyBoxes & Chests · Spring Mountain Case Co.
Two 750 ml bottles of the inaugural release of The Ghost of Autumn in a limited-edition walnut box, engraved. We are awaiting the next batch of boxes — pre-sale acquisitions ship in early December for the holidays.
A custom box carrying our signature logo and Old Glory, with one bottle of each current release: the 2016 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Calistoga Cabernet Franc, and the 2021 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir.
A custom cherry wood chest holding twelve bottles of The Ascension of Hope Single Vineyard Malbec from Chalk Hill. Our largest release format, and the rarest.
The District
Diamond Mountain AVA
To belong to the district, a vineyard must sit at least four hundred feet above sea level. Fog off the Pacific cloaks the hillside morning and evening, letting the vines rest after a long day of stress and ripening.
Our block is one and six-tenths of an acre, ringed by evergreens, planted entirely to Cabernet Sauvignon. Ninety-nine cases came out of it.
2020
The Ascension of Hope
We thought to ourselves: in this dire moment, what can we do to help our community?
We delivered cases of wine to local restaurants and put in place a tip for a bottle program to bring relief to the staff who had been laid off. That became the red label.
The same year brought some of the most devastating fires in Napa Valley's history. The second wine in the series pays homage to the men and women who stood on the front lines of that destruction. Local artist Danasabe Mohammad painted the label — a firefighter making an offering of a California Golden Poppy, resilience and a new tomorrow for California.
Be bold, be brave, be the solution.
The Art
Ty Christian · @creativ_ty
The Ghost of Autumn label was created by the artist Ty Christian. The project was curated to let him experience the true, humble culture of the Napa Valley without pretension, and to depict what he learned firsthand from the new and old working families of this valley.
What he found in his research was the strength of the people here — community, unity, and harmony inside a working landscape. The original hangs; the limited-edition giclée prints are how that vision leaves the valley.
Press
Napa Valley Life · Food & Wine 2020
Napa Valley Life Magazine gave The Ghost of Autumn a feature in its 2020 Food & Wine issue, written by Fran Miller, on how three founders from the valley built a boutique label around single-vineyard wine and art that was a painting before it was ever a label.
“Their work is multi-sensory, bold, and free-thinking.”
Ed Lee, Court of Master Sommeliers · in Napa Valley Life
Humble Beginnings
How it was built
Building a premium Napa Valley label meant sacrifice. We chose not to make it on materials — the glass, the cork, the labels, and the fruit all came from the best we could reach in Napa and Sonoma Counties. What we spent instead was sweat.
The Glass
One hundred and ten cases of MA Silva Sajama glass hauled from Calistoga into a garage, by hand, one load at a time.
The Rule
A principle borrowed from Napa Valley chefs: you eat with your eyes first. The package had to be as considered as the wine inside it.
First Notice
An invitation to donate custom box sets to the Boy Scouts of America national auction at Charles Krug Winery. The first ten sets sold, which funded our first real inventory purchase — and brought our first publication in a wine magazine.
2020
The world stopped. Working with artist Danasabe Mohammad, we created the Ascension of Hope series for first responders and the community that carried us.
The Cover
A cover feature in Napa Valley Life Magazine. See the spread.
Contact
Napa, California
For allocations, pre-sales, private tastings, trade and distribution inquiries, or a question about a purchase — reach us directly. A real person answers.
Request an Allocation
Prefer to write directly? theghostofautumnwine@gmail.com. We answer every request personally — allocations are small and we like knowing where the bottles go.