Pine Ridge Vineyards Named a 2026 Wine Enthusiast American Winery of the Year Nominee

There are plenty of reasons to follow Silverado Trail into Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District. This year, Pine Ridge Vineyards has added another.

Pine Ridge Vineyards has been named a 2026 American Winery of the Year nominee in Wine Enthusiast’s 27th Annual Wine Star Awards, joining a select group of American wineries recognized for their impact on the wine industry and the people who enjoy it. See Wine Enthusiast’s 2026 Wine Star Award nominees.

For anyone planning a trip to Napa Valley, the nomination offers a timely reason to discover—or rediscover—the place behind the recognition: an estate rooted in the Stags Leap District, surrounded by vineyards and dramatic ridgelines, with Cabernet Sauvignon aging in caves beneath the property.

Pine Ridge Vineyards in Napa Valley is a 2026 Wine Enthusiast American Winery of the Year nominee. Founded in 1978 in the Stags Leap District, Pine Ridge is known for estate-grown Napa Valley wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, its unexpected Chenin Blanc + Viognier blend, and immersive vineyard and cave tasting experiences along Silverado Trail.

Wine Enthusiast’s annual Wine Star Awards recognize individuals and companies making notable contributions to the wine and beverage industry. For the 2026 awards, finalists were selected using factors that included impact on consumers and the trade, commercial success, company or brand vision, and trendsetting.

Pine Ridge Vineyards is one of five wineries nominated for American Winery of the Year. Winners are expected to be featured in Wine Enthusiast’s Best of Year issue and celebrated at the annual Wine Star Awards gala in January 2027.

In announcing Pine Ridge’s nomination, Wine Enthusiast highlighted a side of the winery that reaches beyond the Cabernet Sauvignon for which Napa Valley is famous: its longstanding Chenin Blanc + Viognier program. What began as an experiment three decades ago has become one of Pine Ridge’s most recognizable wines—a bright, unexpected expression of the winery’s curious spirit.

Explore Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 

But to understand the full Pine Ridge story, it helps to start where the winery did: in the Stags Leap District.

Pine Ridge Vineyards was founded in 1978, when Gary Andrus planted Cabernet Sauvignon on a rugged property in what is now the Stags Leap District. Today, Pine Ridge farms approximately 160 acres of estate vineyards across five Napa Valley appellations: Stags Leap District, Howell Mountain, Oakville, Rutherford, and Carneros.

Explore the Pine Ridge Vineyards estate vineyards

Those sites give the winemaking team a broad view of how Napa Valley’s soils, elevations, exposures, and growing conditions shape wine from one appellation to the next.

At the winery itself, that story becomes tangible.

Located at 5901 Silverado Trail in Napa, Pine Ridge welcomes guests into the landscape where its story began. Vineyard views stretch toward the surrounding ridgelines, while underground wine caves provide a striking setting for aging wine—and for experiencing it.

For travelers who want their Napa visit to be more than a tasting-room stop, Pine Ridge offers a closer look at the land, craft, and character behind the bottle.

One of the most distinctive ways to experience Pine Ridge is beneath the estate.

The Cabernet Cave Tasting takes guests 130 feet underground for a seated, semi-private tasting surrounded by barrels. The experience explores a curated selection of Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignons from across renowned Napa Valley appellations, creating an opportunity to taste how different sites can shape the character of the wines.

For a deeper exploration, the Cellar 47 Cave Tour & Tasting begins with a guided journey through the cave system before a seated tasting of limited Stags Leap District estate Cabernet Sauvignons. Cellar 47 takes its name from the 47 estate acres Pine Ridge farms in the Stags Leap District.

It is an experience built around something that can be difficult to understand from a wine label alone: place.

View current Pine Ridge tasting and cave experiences 

The Stags Leap District is a compact Napa Valley appellation along Silverado Trail, defined by its dramatic landscape and particularly associated with Cabernet Sauvignon. Pine Ridge’s estate includes four vineyard sites within the district, where varied soils, sun exposure, and cooling influences help shape wines known for balancing concentration and structure with refinement.

For visitors interested in exploring the broader neighborhood, the Stags Leap District Winegrowers offers additional information about the appellation, its wineries, and the landscape that makes this corner of Napa Valley distinctive.

Explore the Stags Leap District 

For Pine Ridge guests, however, that exploration can begin without leaving the estate.

Travelers looking to see more of the property can seek out Pine Ridge’s Explorer’s Tour & Tasting: A Vineyard to Cave Experience, offered on select weekend dates.

The two-hour experience begins outside with a guided vineyard walk and sweeping estate views before moving underground for a closer look at winemaking and cave aging. It concludes with a seated tasting of limited bottlings.

That progression—from open vineyard to cool cave—is a fitting introduction to Pine Ridge. The wines take on new context when you can see where the vines grow, experience the shift in temperature underground, and understand the work that happens between vineyard and bottle.

The Wine Enthusiast nomination arrives at an interesting moment because it recognizes something longtime Pine Ridge drinkers already know: there is more than one way into this winery.

For some, Pine Ridge begins with Cabernet Sauvignon and the Stags Leap District.

For others, the introduction is a chilled bottle of Chenin Blanc + Viognier at the table—a wine Pine Ridge has made with the same spirit of experimentation for 30 years.

The two expressions may occupy very different places at the table, but they share an exploratory point of view. One looks closely at how vineyard and appellation can shape Napa Valley wines. The other reflects a willingness to follow an unexpected idea and continue refining it over decades.

That balance of curiosity and connection to place is part of what makes Pine Ridge worth exploring in person.

Pine Ridge Vineyards is located in the Stags Leap District at 5901 Silverado Trail, Napa, California 94558.

The tasting room is currently open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with reservation-based tastings, cave experiences, and select vineyard-to-cave experiences available. Reservations are strongly encouraged, particularly on weekends.

Want to check availability while planning your Napa Valley day? Call Pine Ridge Vineyards at (707) 252-9777. Pine Ridge also recommends calling the estate to check same-day availability for select experiences and events.

Plan your visit and view current tasting experiences

Because tasting options, pricing, availability, and seasonal experiences can change, guests should check the Visit page or call the winery before arrival.

For anyone considering a Napa Valley trip, the Wine Enthusiast nomination provides a new reason to put Pine Ridge on the itinerary. But the best reason to visit remains the experience itself: vineyards under open sky, Cabernet Sauvignon resting underground, and the chance to explore Napa Valley through the distinct places that shape the wines.

Come explore the place behind the nomination.