Château Boswell Winery

Forty years ago, Richard Thornton Boswell had the foresight to create a Napa Valley winery with the goal of excellence in small lot French Style wine production with wines sold directly to the client. The Wall Street Journal remarked upon his unique concept of a "Boutique" winery at a time when the other 71 wineries in the Napa Valley sold mostly through distribution. Chateau Boswell remains among a handful of privately owned family wineries amidst the 554 wineries in the Napa Valley today.

RT’s vision was to focus solely on the noble Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon varietal in his hand hewn stone winery nestled along the Silverado Trail in Saint Helena. Today our family, under the direction of Susan Boswell, continues those valiant efforts, though we have vastly diversified our portfolio to include wines from many of California’s most treasured vineyards. Our pursuit remains true, to craft, quite simply, the greatest expression of terroir.

Famed winemaker André Tchelistcheff graced our winery with his immense knowledge and directed our first efforts. It is with a great sense of history and continued quest for excellence that we continue on this path under the tutelage of consulting winemakers Philippe Melka and Keith Hock who both work closely with Allison Nunnikhoven, Associate Winemaker for Chateau Boswell.

The Napa Valley is blessed with a Mediterranean climate that only 2% of the earth enjoys. This climate perfection for grape growing plus the diurnal swings in temperature of cool nights and very warm sunny days during the growing season is what provides consistent quality vintage after vintage. Another significant factor contributing to the global recognition of the Napa Valley as one of the finest grape growing regions is that this tiny valley has more than one half of all the world’s soil orders, 33 different soils series and over 100 soil variations which contribute to the unique terroir found throughout the valley floor and hillsides.

We have sought to capture California’s purest representation of terroir from Napa Valley’s storied Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard to Northern Santa Barbara’s spectacular Rita’s Crown, Radian and Bentrock Vineyards, Sonoma Coast's Sun Chase Vineyard, and then soaring to the glorious Russian River Valley for our Ritchie, Rued, and Dutton Sebastopol Vineyard designated Chardonnays.

We have produced 5 wines from the Napa Valley through the years; our Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, RTB Red wine which is a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, At Anchor Cabernet Sauvignon, and our Napa Valley Red Wine which is a blend of fruit sourced from 3 Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards, and a touch of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot.

Our quest remains to produce wines that express the unique characteristics of their vineyard source. Our vineyard designated wines are true to their source with each of these wines being very limited in production with less than 350 cases per bottling. 

Château Boswell winemaking team is formed by Philippe Melka and associate winemaker Allison Nunnikhoven. 

At Château Boswell we strive to be responsible to our community's ongoing dependence upon a strong environmental structure. Our Estate vineyards and landscaping are all maintained organically by hand labor and with this closeness to our land and fruit we have developed a very sensitive and attention to detail approach to the production of our hand crafted wines. 

In 2007 Château Boswell became the first winery to be certified Napa Green. In 2010 the entire Château Boswell property was also certified as a Napa Green Land property and uses only Deep Green 100% renewable energy.

2021 marks the 42nd Anniversary of Chateau Boswell and it is fitting that this is also the 4th certification for Chateau Boswell under the Napa Green program with each re-certification earned by continuing to go above and beyond to preserve, protect and restore the environment of Napa County. The Napa Green program assists in meeting the goals of California’s and Napa County’s Climate Action Plans.

The Napa Green Program sets the bar high with monitoring and auditing of our water and energy use and recycling percentage as well as land management practices required to protect the Napa Watershed. Government agencies certify only after compliance with the Napa Green Program standards and all State, Federal, and local regulations.

For a preview visit of our Estate Experience you may watch our video on Vimeo by Creel Studios in Los Angeles.