Cuvaison was founded in Calistoga in 1969 by two engineers from Silicon Valley. In 1979 the Schmidheiny family purchased the then-27-acre estate, along with 400 acres in the Carneros appellation. The name of the winery is the French word for the period when the grape juice, skin and seeds are altogether during fermentation and maceration. Cuvaison makes Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc. California wine writer James Laube has noted that Cuvaison wines “share a distinctive house style with ripe, focused, supple fruit flavors, good intensity, fine balance and a sense of harmony and finesse.”