From: http://www.graperadio.com/archives/2008/09/22/spring-mountain-vineyard/
Spring Mountain Vineyard is rich with history. After the sudden death of Tiburcio Parrott in the late 1800s, neither the house nor the 800 acres were used between 1896 and 1938.
Eventually the property was purchased by Mike Robbins in 1974. Robbins bought an old Victorian on St. Helena Highway near Deer Park Road and constructed a small winery which became Spring Mountain Vineyards. Soon Robbins outgrew this first location and discovered the wonderful Parrot estate.
After acquiring Parrott’s Miravalle estate, Robbins restored the Victorian residence and built a 17,000 square foot winery at the site of Tiburcio’s wine cave and small winery. Though his primary vineyard was in Rutherford on the Silverado Trail (now the site of Domaine Mumm), Robbins planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in 1980 on the land around Miravalle. Robbins’ Spring Mountain Chardonnay became highly prized by connoisseurs and was a “cult” wine of the late 1960’s and 1970’s.
Once the site for the former TV show, Falcon’s Crest, Spring Mountain lives on, now comprising four separate vineyards totaling 245 acres in 130 blocks. The Miravalle, Chateau Chevalier, Streblow (Alba), and Draper (La Perla) vineyards are beautifully terraced, rising up the hillside from 400′ to 1600′ in elevation creating several microclimates. The “main house,” an 8,000 square foot Victorian was built in 1885 by Tiburcio Parrott. Featured during the aerial flyover in the opening credits of the TV show, the house is meticulously maintained both inside and out, and all of the original features of stained glass and molding have been kept.
Join us as we talk with Valli Ferrell, winemaker Jac Cole, and vineyard manager Ron Rosenbrand about the vineyards and this lovely estate.