Weinberger Winery was the first stone winery in St. Helena.

John and Hannah Weinberger purchase 240 acres from Charles and Carolina Krug in 1868. The stone cellar and three-story building were completed in 1873.

John Weinberger was murdered by an employee in 1882, leaving Hannah to become the first female winery owner and winemaker. She ran the winery for thirty-eight years until Prohibition closed the operation in 1920. After her death the property was parceled away, leaving just the winery and homestead.

The property remained shuttered until 1938 when the Harrison family of San Francisco purchased the estate. They commissioned architect Bourn Hayne to convert the top two levels of the dilapidated gravity-flow winery into a summer residence.

In 1956 the Gonser family purchased the property and maintained it as a summer home until 1999 when William and Jane Ballentine acquired it.

The Ballentines restored the home, the winery and the gardens designed by Thomas Church. In 2004 they opened the winery, which had been closed since Prohibition, as William Cole Vineyards.

Source: St. Helena Star, 7 July 2015

When we photographed the property in 2015, it housed William Cole Vineyards.