The David Fulton Winery specializes in ultra premium, estate bottled Petite Sirah. In two more years, the Fulton family will be pleased to announce the first release of their Cabernet Sauvignon.

Located just a short walk to the east from downtown St. Helena is the recently restored winery tucked beneath three large valley oaks (Quercus lobata). A replica of the old Fulton stone wine cellar, the three story building sits at the northwest edge of the family vineyard. A few yards to the west are two large sentinel palm trees, a restored tank house and David Fulton's original, historic farmhouse. The 14.5 acre vineyard itself stretches south from this point as if to run away from Mount St. Helena, a vast silhouette looming to the north and reminding us of its once violent volcanic nature. This romantic setting of old head trained vines enjoys early morning fog, warm afternoons and cool night air of the northern Napa Valley as well as the rich igneous alluvial soil of the local appellation.

Only a small number of cases of Petite Sirah are produced by the estate to distribute in California to fine restaurants and specialty wine shops. An even smaller amount is released to a few private collections. The bulk of fruit produced by David Fulton Vineyards are sold to a local and well received Napa Valley winery noted for its fine quality wines at reasonable prices.

Historical Footprints

Originating from Vermont David Fulton sailed out of New York aboard the INO and around the horn to arrive in San Francisco, July 12, 1852. A few weeks later he arrived in Napa Valley looking for work and a chance to make a good livelihood. At the time, there were a mere seven homes in the northern part of the valley. Not succumbing to gold fever, he found work in the vineyards owned by Edward Turner Bale. David, together with Florentine Kellogg, drove wagons of grapes to Nevada City where they sold fruit to minors at 50 cents a pound. Six years later, in 1858, he purchased a lot from Hiram Lauderbach, erected a store-front building and started the area's first saddlery. It was located on the county road (now 1230 Main Street) near the corner of Hunt in what would later become the town of St. Helena, incorporated 1876. In 1881, the small structure served as the Wells, Fargo & Co.'s express office and remains today as the oldest building standing in downtown St. Helena.

After two years of making saddles, horse-drawn carts and cast iron parts, he established his own vineyard with the purchase of a 40 acre parcel of land from Frank Stratton January 1860. A couple of months later, the spring of that year, he planted his first grape vines. The next year, anticipating more mature harvests to come, he sold 15 acres to finance his second building, the first stone wine cellar within the town limits of St. Helena. The 48 by 28 foot cellar was more than double the size of George Crane's and double the depth of Charles Krug's "small rude cellar", Krug and Crane both living outside the town limits and all three (to include Fulton) starting their winery structures in roughly the same time period. Fulton hired Antone Rossi of Spring Valley, and together they hauled away 1,000 square yards of dirt and moved in 100 square yards of rhyolite rock quarried from the valley's eastern hillsides to build the cellar walls. Above ground the winery was a board and batten structure made of redwood planks milled from trees taken from the western hillsides. There are no records of when the structure was completed, but given the work involved it probably took no less than two years before it was functional.

We can not say for certain when David Fulton sold his first commercial wine, but he was granted a federal permit dated May 1865 to make and sell brandy for which he paid the sum of $5.83 in excise tax. Given the low consecutive number of the document, this may be considered one of earliest such licenses issued to a Napa Valley vintner. Brandy was often made in the early years to make better use of wine left unsold and exposed to the elements. With this in mind, commercial wine could have been made at his cellar two to three years prior. Two other early documents found by the family show 1866 sales to the "San Francisco Wine Merchants". One sale was for "17 pipes (casks) of white wine" (about 2,200 gallons of wine). The other took place three months later in which he sold "13 pipes of wine spirits" (about 1,600 gallons of brandy). These sales were on course with the date of his first plantings, and they support the contention that he was a strong player among Napa cellar owners of the 1860's. Mr. Fulton died during the 1871 harvest at the age of 47. His passing took place prior to any serious reviews of Napa Valley vintners by noted historians (see Slocum, Bowen & Co., History of Napa and Lake Counties, 1881) and before his business acumen could propel production to the next level.

The operation was now left for David's wife, Mary Albino (Lyon) Fulton. A gutsy woman in her own right, she traveled alone from Pennsylvania, crossing the Panama by foot and arriving in Napa in 1860. Here she met and married David in 1863. Their wedding took place on the front porch of the Kellogg residence (today called the Lyman House), and in 1864 they built their home 80 feet to the south of the already completed winery. After his death, Mary tried her best to continue running all husband's businesses. However, the task of having to care for two young daughters, both at or under the age of eight, made it too difficult to carry the full load. She allowed the winery to lay idle for four years while she sought a better solution. In January 1876, she hired the assistance of winemaker William Scheffler to carry on the winery operation. Mr. Scheffler worked for a year and a half retooling the old wine cellar. He was able to bring it up to current standards of production by the fall of 1877 and do so with enough momentum to carry the operation partway into the next decade. Listings on 1880 county maps now identified the Fulton Lane cellar as the M. A. Fulton Winery. Other listings, however, began to identify the cellar only in its collective capacity under that of Mr. Scheffler's growing winery control. Alone now for several years and exhausted with maintaining the family business while caring for two young daughters, Mary's health began to fail. At the same time, Scheffler was fast becoming a noted Napa Valley vintner in his own right. He started to operate the Monongo Winery in 1880. A short time later, Scheffler and associates purchased Edge Hill Winery. The latter facility quickly consumed most all his energies as he began to focus almost entirely on Edge Hill. Consequently, the Fulton Family bowed out of commercial wine making at the old cellar sometime during the 1880 decade. The vineyard, however, continued to flourish well into the next century and beyond.

Besides viticulture David Fulton had other endeavors: businessman, benefactor, trustee, inventor and town visionary. In 1857 he became an original trustee of the town's first church. 13 years later he was called upon to help the congregation settle their tax debt. In 1870, utilizing skills as a blacksmith and the knowledge gained as owner of the town saddlery, he invented the Fulton Plow. This was affectionately described as a one-horse implement used to carefully loosen soil around compacted vines. A year later and joined by three others, he bought water rights from John York. Behind present day Beringer Brothers Winery they negotiated, paid and dug a reservoir that eventually became the town's water company. He was joined soon after by Hudson, Krug, Hastie and eight others to widen the scope of the venture. Perhaps, it can be said his was a modest mark in the history of wine in Napa Valley. However, given the breadth of his endeavors, the level of his contacts and the keen sense of his negotiating skills it would be difficult to contend he left no vintage footprints in the Valley's alluvial soil.

Today

Handed down generation by generation, the land exists today as the oldest continuously owned and operated family vineyard in California. Each of six generations has lived in the same farm house including the current owners. Two generations were born there. The town has grown up around the land. The current dry farmed, head trained "Pets" vineyard, replanted by the family during the 1930's, 40's, 50's and 60's, is recognized today as an old vine varietal super site.

Ed Beard oversees the general care of our vineyard, and he together with his wife Anna own and operate Beard Ranches, a local vineyard management company in Napa Valley and Lake County. Ed is also a direct descendant of David Fulton, and he, his wife and two daughters, Adrian and Juliana, all lived for a time in the old Fulton farmhouse.

Winemaker and winery consultant Allen Price, a native of St. Helena, helps us throughout the year. He has 25 years experience in the Napa Valley, mostly with the Hess Collection. He is currently wearing similar hats with El Molino and Casa Nuestra wineries.

The vineyard and winery is owned and managed today by the husband and wife team of Fulton and Dink Mather. The great grandson of David Fulton, Mr. Mather recently retired from managing a UNIX software unit with the California Department of Social Services. Dink is a retired toxic scientist with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Assisting Dink and Fulton are their son Richard Mather, production manager, and their daughter Jennifer Mather, sales and promotion. Jennifer serves as an event planner and graphic artist for a Los Angeles firm. Richard is currently a compliance agent in the wine industry. Richard's nine year-old daughter, Nicole, helps the most by tasting the grapes and leaving objects around the old farm house to remind us it's time to again to get organized.