In 1864, horticulturist John Lewelling purchased the St. Helena estate, the foundation of what is now Taplin.
John Lewelling brought and grafted European Vitis vinifera wine grapes. Along with other vintners, he founded the St. Helena Viticultural Club.
The family’s great-great-grandfather observed the soil was “nine parts rock and one part dirt”.
In 1871, John Orange Taplin moved his dairy farm from San Francisco to Silverado Trail, near St. Helena, where Taplin Road is now.
When John Taplin died, his widow Louisa, along with her boys, kept the farm and the dairy business. She built and supported a school so her children and neighboring children could have an education.
In 1920, Albert Taplin and Ethel Lewelling marry, uniting the two farming families.
The family transitioned the property from walnuts and prunes to grapevines.
Founded in 2011, Stephen, Bill and Melinda hired Julien Fayard as he was just developing his winemaking reputation.
The winery logo is from handwriting in an original Taplin Brothers Dairy milk delivery logbook.
Adam Taplin, the sixth-generation co-owner, represents the family’s focus on active stewardship, eliminating herbicides in favor of mechanical cultivation, and pursuing sustainable farming.