History

Grape growing in the Stags Leap District extends back to the mid-1800s when the Silverado Trail was a quiet horse path. In 1878, Terrill L. Grigsby built Occidental Winery, the region's first winery, and the current home of Regusci Winery. Several years later, in 1893, San Francisco entrepreneur Horace Chase built the first winery to bear the Stags' Leap name. Theories abound as to the origin of the name Stags Leap but the most well loved and oft-repeated is the legend of a stag who successfully eluded hungry hunters by leaping to freedom across the District's landmark peaks.