A Vineyard Rooted in Howell Mountain
Our Story
Great Oak Vineyard takes its name from the black oak that stands at the center of the property, a tree the founders chose to preserve when the vineyard was first planted in 2016.
Nick and Valerie Roger farm this site with a simple conviction: exceptional wine begins with exceptional land and high-quality farming. The volcanic soil, its mountain elevation, along with warm, long growing days and cool nights provide the foundation for growing high quality fruit and developing relationships they build with winemakers who craft the fruit into something special.
Howell Mountain wineries date back to the late 1800s. An adjacent vineyard on Las Posadas road was established in 1890. In December 1983, Howell Mountain became the first of 16 American Viticultural Area (AVAs) of the Napa Valley.
We share this beautiful land with bears, coyotes, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, owls, hawks, honey bees and rabbits. As stewards of the land, our Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard has been farmed organically from the beginning and we continue to promote soil vitality with planted cover crops and composting.
The four-acre vineyard’s development was made possible by family, friends, collaborators, and bountiful flora and fauna that have made the forested twenty acres on Howell Mountain a sanctuary for all who tend it.
Wilfred and Margaret's Journey from England to Angwin
Growing Howell Mountain Roots:
In 1956, after graduating from medical school in post war England, Valerie’s parents, Wilfred Huse and Margaret Palmer got married and traveled by ship across the Atlantic to New York and immigrated to Glendale, California to practice medicine and raise a family.
Valerie, the youngest of five children, developed a love of farming while visiting her grandparent’s orchard and gardens in Redlands, California.
In 1974, Wilfred and Margaret purchased twenty acres of forested land on Las Posadas Road in Angwin, California and built the family home. While still living in Southern California, Wilfred and Margaret planned a waterskiing family vacation at Lake Berryessa near Angwin, which proved to be the beginning of a life rooted on Howell Mountain.
Valerie grew up on the family farm characterized by a balance between rural freedom and traditional Seventh Day Adventist values. Over many years, Wilfred and Margaret built their home, planted a subsistence farm and orchard, felled trees for a wood-burning stove to heat their home, and reveled in the natural beauty of the landscape. Over the years, there were goats to milk, cats to eat mice, dogs for companionship, and horses to ride.
As a child, Valerie climbed the great oak tree to pick mistletoe. When the vineyard was developed, the great oak was too majestic and beautiful to remove and the tree provides a home for a hawk’s nest and its family.
Valerie’s Love of Farming
From Orchard to Sustainability:
In 1970, Valerie and her father planted a two-acre orchard in the backyard consisting of apples, pears, figs, persimmons, walnuts, and plums, a large vegetable garden as well as a barn for Valerie’s two horses, Lucky and Mindy. Most of the fruit and nut trees still thrive in the climate and soil. They also built the horse barn which today is used for canning and making fruit juice and processing honey.
Valerie, an avid horse rider, spent the nights of her youth curled up in the barn with Lucky and Mindy and weekends were spent working in the orchard harvesting fruit, honey, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, melons, squash and so much more.
In 1984, Nick and Valerie met at Pacific Union College, located about a mile away in Angwin and shared a love of horse riding, often riding late into the night through the forest. After Nick and Valerie were married in 1991, they moved to the east coast and the Midwest where Nick pursued his career.
Nick and Valerie Share a New Beginning
Great Oak Vineyard:
In 2014, Nick and Valerie moved back to Northern California and in 2016, they developed Great Oak Vineyard.
Over the course of several years, they revitalized the garden and orchard, renovated the barn and Valerie’s childhood home, installed solar power and fiber broadband, and developed Great Oak Vineyard.
In developing Great Oak Vineyard, the large, majestic black oak tree was spared and today thrives in the middle of the vineyard.
Through the seasons, the vineyard’s namesake, Great Oak, stands tall amidst grapes, watching over land written with stories of love, hardship, adventure, and many quiet, wondrous lives that rise and rest in the Napa Valley.
Partner With
Great Oak Vineyard
We collaborate with a select group of wineries who share our commitment to craft and place.