About Behrens Family Winery
Behrens Family Winery began in 1993 as Behrens & Hitchcock, when restaurateurs Les Behrens and Lisa Drinkward bought their first three and a half tons of grapes with partners Bob and Lily Hitchcock. Les and Lisa sold their restaurant, Folie Douce, in 1997 to make wine full time, and when the Hitchcocks retired in 2005 the label became Behrens Family Winery.
From a winery on Spring Mountain above St. Helena, Les, who has never had formal winemaking training, turns out about 4,500 cases a year under a cast of evocatively named bottlings: The Explorer, The Anchor, The Passenger, Cemetery, Spare Me, and the Erna Schein label, named for his mother. Nearly everything sells through the mailing list, and tastings are private and by appointment only.
Les Behrens has never taken a winemaking class; he has been making Spring Mountain reds on instinct since 1993.
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Instinct over dogmaLes Behrens has made every wine since 1993 with no formal training, learning entirely by doing.
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True boutiqueProduction holds at about 4,500 cases a year, sold mostly through the mailing list.
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Private by designVisits are appointment-only and never shared with other groups.
"A self-taught Spring Mountain original making mailing-list reds on instinct since 1993."
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Featured Wines
RED BLEND
The Explorer
Napa Valley
One of the winery's flagship proprietary reds, a fixture of the lineup across vintages.
RED BLEND
Ethan's Cuvée
2022 · Napa Valley
A small-lot proprietary red from the 2022 vintage.
RED BLEND
The Anchor
Napa Valley
Another of the whimsically named house reds made in Les Behrens's instinct-driven style.
Label lineup per napawineproject.com and vinous.com, July 2026; Behrens publishes no price list and sells almost entirely through its mailing list.
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Private Spring Mountain Tasting
Tastings at the Spring Mountain Road winery are appointment-only and always kept private, hosted to show off the latest release wines.
By appointment
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