Quixote Winery’s history is made for the movies, or at least a page turner of a novel. It was founded by Carl Doumani, a long time fixture in the Napa Valley wine industry. A one-time Los Angeles restaurateur who bought Napa Valley land in the early 1970s as a getaway spot for his family, he was introduced to the wine business in 1971 when Robert Mondavi offered to buy some of the grapes growing on Doumani’s property. Doumani went on to found Stags’ Leap Winery, which he sold to Beringer Wine Estates in 1997. Doumani’s Stags’ Leap Winery was of course not the Stag’s Leap Winery founded by Warren Winiarski, and two fought each other in court over the name for years. Named for the literary hero Don Quixote and his idealistic quests, Quixote Winery is a 27-acre Stags Leap district estate designed on the aesthetic principles of an environmentally-minded 20th century Viennese designer who preferred curves to straight lines. Though the building is eccentric Quixote’s wines earn praise, especially the Petite Sirah. The estate also makes Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. Aaron Pott is consulting winemaker, and Damon Bailey is winemaker. In 2014 Doumani sold Quixote to the Yatai Group of China.