United States · California

Charles Krug

Charles Krug is one of Napa Valley's foundational wineries, established in 1861 by Prussian immigrant Charles Krug — widely credited as the valley's first commercial winemaker. After Krug's death, the property fell into decline until the Mondavi family purchased it in 1943; Robert and Peter Mondavi worked the estate before Robert's famous departure to found his eponymous winery in 1966. Since then, Charles Krug has remained under the Peter Mondavi family, quietly producing wines that anchor the historical tradition of Napa Cabernet. The flagship Cabernet Sauvignon Vintage Selection — a single-vineyard St. Helena Cabernet from old Napa benchland — is the wine that defines the estate's auction market. At $157 average across 261 lots and a ceiling of $474, the prices reflect genuine collector interest in older vintages from the Mondavi-era Napa canon rather than cult-level speculative demand. Horizontal collections of the Vintage Selection through the 1970s and 1980s are particularly valued as historical documents of pre-Parker Napa Cabernet style. The wines age remarkably well in great years: 1970s Vintage Selections regularly show as complex, tobacco-edged Cabernets decades later. The $17 price floor reflects basic Charles Krug bottlings, while the premium end reflects sought-after older vintages. Bottles from the 1970s and early 1980s — made under the direction of Peter Mondavi Sr. and Charles Krug's successive proprietors — represent the most historically significant category and have appreciated steadily as documented Napa heritage.