Setting

H.W. Crabb’s To-Kalon estate is located in Oakville in the heart of Napa Valley, which extends thirty miles from the San Pablo Bay northwest to Calistoga. Formed by techtonic plates approximately three million years ago, the Mayacamas Mountains on the west and Vaca Mountains on the east frame the long, narrow valley. The mountain ranges affect temperatures, rainfall, and wind patterns by blocking cool, coastal weather from the Pacific Ocean and warm weather from the Central Valley. The valley’s Mediterranean climate, with warm days, cool nights, and dry summers, forms ideal conditions for viticulture. Streams also meander through canyons in the mountain ranges, carrying sediment to the valley floor and forming alluvial fans with prized soil. It is within this setting that H.W. Crabb transformed his 527-acre estate into one of the largest, most productive wineries in Napa Valley and perhaps the state in the late nineteenth century.

Sources:
Grossinger, Robin. Napa Valley Historical Ecology Atlas: Exploring a Hidden Landscape of Transformation and Resilience. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
Vintner, Jeremy Nickel's "History of To-Kalon"
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