Fodor's Expert Review AXR Napa Valley

Three entrepreneur-investor types established AXR with a winemaker-partner, Jean Hoefliger, who describes a vineyard as "the soul of a wine" and his job in the cellar "to create an emotion." Hoefliger, who in 2021 completed a 15-year run with the Napa Valley's Alpha Omega Winery, crafts multilayer Chardonnays from sourced grapes (including an often highly rated entrant from Sonoma County's Ritchie Vineyard) and dense yet supple 100% Cabernet Sauvignons. The Cabs come from notable sites like Sleeping Lady in Yountville, Denali in St. Helena, and the estate V Madrone Vineyard. Hosts at one-on-one tastings convey the passion, science, and experience underlying Hoefliger's wines and the history of the redwood-studded AXR property. Some sessions unfold in a renovated barn, others in an 1876 house once part of a pre-Prohibition restaurant and inn that thrived here.