Burgess Cellars

A science-trained hand in the Howell Mountain cellar

The cellar work starts with variables: fruit, timing, chemistry, touch. At Burgess Cellars in Napa, Kelly Woods, former winemaker, brought a University of California, Davis discipline to that station, the kind of practice that treats Cabernet Sauvignon as both living material and measured system. Her own description of winemaking is plain: “It's a lot of chemistry, a lot of science, math, biochemistry, physics.” At Burgess, that language belongs to a mountainside winery rooted in Cabernet, with Chardonnay, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah, Malbec, and Grenache also within the estate’s frame. Woods’ path into the cellar moved through Napa Valley and beyond: Seavey Vineyards as her first post-graduation position, Bryant Family Vineyard, a vintage in New Zealand, and Sequoia Grove Winery. At Burgess Cellars she held the head winemaker role from 2013 to early 2018, then the winemaker and general manager post until 2020. The present title attached to the house is winemaker. The method is not theatrical. It is built from harvest pressure, repetition, and a habit of reading what the wine is doing before deciding what the wine should become.

Cabernet held to altitude and patience

Burgess works from hillside estate vineyards on Howell Mountain, set at 800-1000 feet, with historic stone cellars and a stated regenerative philosophy. The house’s standout feature is a 150-year hillside vineyard legacy, and the focus remains elegant Cabernet Sauvignon from organically and biodynamically tagged farming. Those terms matter only when they reach the glass through choices at the bench and in the cellar: when to pick, how to preserve structure, where to let mountain fruit keep its tension rather than be softened into ease. What is clear is the material Woods has worked with here: Burgess Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon lots named Haymaker TKO and Brush Breaker appeared in Premiere Napa Valley, Haymaker TKO in 2015 and Brush Breaker in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The names carry force, but their interest is control. A mountain Cabernet can turn blunt if handled for power alone; the cellar discipline here asks for shape, line, and patience.

Stone, olive trees, and a quiet tasting room

The place sits on the slope rather than above it, a Howell Mountain estate where the cellar, vineyard, and tasting room remain close enough to feel part of one working surface. The setting is quiet, with sweeping vineyard views and a relaxed hospitality style that folds California ease into a Provençal note under olive groves. It is an intimate room by scale, not a stage. The sensory center is still the vineyard outside and the stone cellar behind it, with Cabernet moving through a program that favors restraint over display. In that kind of room, the craft does not need much explanation. The elevation, the fruit, the cellar temperature, and the hands at the station carry the argument. The wine in front of you is especially Brush Breaker.