Basic Info

Among Napa’s growing ranks of celebrated winemakers, Robert Foley's star shines as brightly as any. Beginning in the mid-90’s, few winemakers have his track record for consistently crafting highly regarded (and high scoring) cabernets and merlots in Napa. Among wine-lovers who follow such things, people talk of “Foley wines” more than they invoke the names of the estates for which Foley is the winemaker. Although he seems to have burst onto the wine scene with Pride Mountain Vineyards in the mid-90s, Foley’s career goes back a good ways. Foley is a UC Davis graduate (1977) with degrees in both enology and viticulture. His first job was at Heitz, but a year later he moved on as the founding winemaker at Markham Vineyards, a post he held for 15 years. He became the winemaker at Pride on Spring Mountain in 1993, during which time he also took on winemaking duties at Hourglass and Switchback Ridge. For a time Foley also made wines for Pride’s neighbor and former merlot supplier, Paloma Vineyards, where he made the 2001 Paloma Merlot, the wine that shot the Paloma name to fame when Wine Spectator named it their “Wine of the Year” in 2003. With all this he also found the time to embark on his own wine estate, Robert Foley Vineyards, beginning with the 1998 vintage.