The Edge Hill estate in St. Helena just became one of the most exciting addresses in Napa Valley—and I can say that because I had a front-row seat to understand exactly why.
I recently got to attend an incredible wine pairing dinner at Charlie’s, where winemaker Sam Kaplan poured through his work across multiple labels for a group that included some of the most respected names in the valley.
I’ve been to a lot of wine dinners in Napa…this one was different in such a special way! Here’s a little IG recap:
Who Is Sam Kaplan?
Sam Kaplan is the founding winemaker behind Memento Mori, one of Napa Valley’s most coveted cult Cabernet labels. Over more than a decade, he earned a 100-point score, helped secure top bids at Premiere Napa Valley, and built a devoted collector community around a single mantra: remember to live. His allocations sell out fast. His name carries weight in a way that takes years to build.
Hayes and Susana Drumwright brought Sam in as the founding winemaker for Vida Valiente, where he makes The Movement—the winery’s flagship Cabernet Sauvignon blend pulled from virgin vines at some of Napa’s most prestigious sites, including Beckstoffer To Kalon in Oakville, High Ranch in Coombsville, and Graveside Vineyard in St. Helena. At $325 a bottle, it’s a serious wine. It’s also wine with a mission: $100 from every bottle goes directly to the Vida Valiente Foundation, which supports first-generation students.
Now he’s the winemaker at the center of everything being built at Edge Hill. The lineup at that dinner made it obvious why the wine world is paying attention.
The Dinner at Charlie’s
Head chef and owner of Charlie’s, Elliot Bell spent nearly twelve years as executive sous chef at the French Laundry—Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-star institution in Yountville—before opening his own place in St. Helena, naming the restaurant after his son. The menu is locally sourced, California New American, globally influenced, and precise in a way that makes you stop mid-bite.
The pairing dinner featured Sam’s work across his labels, course by course, and the combination of Bell’s kitchen alongside Kaplan’s wines was one of those things that’s genuinely hard to explain unless you were there.
After every first bite, my husband and I kept doing that move where we look at each other and say nothing with an eyebrow arched because it’s just that good. Every pour, every course. By the third pairing, I was already wondering how we’d ever go back to a normal Tuesday night out.
The Toast That Stopped the Room
Here’s the part I keep telling people about. Elias Fernandez—the winemaker who has spent 40 years at Shafer Vineyards, earned Food & Wine’s Winemaker of the Year, and was honored at the White House—stood up post-dinner to toast Sam. He spoke about how proud he was of him. How genuinely excited he was about the wines Sam was making.
If you know Napa, you know what that means. Elias grew up here, his family is woven into the fabric of this valley, and he’s as revered as it gets in the wine world. He didn’t just say a few nice things—he stood up in a room full of serious wine people and publicly celebrated what Sam Kaplan is building. That’s a statement.
The Wines — Memento Mori, Vida Valiente, and What’s Coming at Edge Hill
Tasting Sam’s work across these labels in one sitting is its own kind of education. Memento Mori wines deliver completely on their reputation—bold, structured, and complex without being overwhelming. The kind of wine that makes you understand immediately why collectors are texting each other on release day.
Vida Valiente’s The Movement is a different expression. Younger as a program, but the sourcing is absurdly good—virgin vines from some of the most sought-after sites in Napa Valley, with a precision and elegance that reflects Sam’s sensibility as a winemaker. Knowing that every bottle directly funds scholarships for first-generation students adds a layer to the drinking experience that’s hard to separate from the wine itself. It just tastes better when you know what it’s doing.
And the future estate wine from Edge Hill under the Ultra Mortem label? Those vines are going in the ground now. We’re talking years before a bottle is released. But if you want a preview of where this is heading, find a bottle of The Movement and pay attention to what Sam Kaplan is already doing.
Edge Hill Estate: A Property That Goes Back to 1867
The Edge Hill estate was first established as a winery in 1867 and is home to Napa Valley’s oldest surviving gravity-flow winery. It earned international recognition at the 1889 Paris World Fair and was once among the most celebrated producers in the region before Prohibition effectively shut it down. For decades, the property served as a private residence before wine production was revived in 2000.
Hayes Drumwright, along with a group of philanthropic-minded investors, recently acquired Edge Hill and is establishing it as the home of two things. Vida Valiente now hosts private tastings by appointment at the estate—a stunning setting in the western hills of St. Helena. And Edge Hill is becoming the home of Ultra Mortem—a future wine label and collective being built around a question of legacy. The name is Latin for “beyond death,” and the concept asks what endures when a life of purpose is over.
Ultra Mortem will operate under a collective ownership model where partners aren’t passive investors—they’re active stewards, each contributing to a shared philanthropic platform and supporting causes of their own. Sam Kaplan will eventually make estate wine here under the Ultra Mortem label once the new vines mature. Those wines are still years away, but the vision is clear—and the foundation being laid right now is worth paying attention to.
The Vida Valiente Foundation Scholars
The Vida Valiente Foundation was started by Hayes and Susana Cueva Drumwright, in partnership with winemaker Sam Kaplan and his wife, Nancy, to support first-generation, low-income students at Stanford through scholarships, mentorship, and leadership development. The name translates to “valiant life”—and the students in this program embody that phrase completely. The Foundation now supports 172 scholars.
And this June marks a big moment: the first cohort of students who received scholarships will graduate from Stanford. These aren’t abstract beneficiaries. They’re real people whose paths were changed because a winery decided that great wine should do more than taste good.
If you’re not tracking Sam Kaplan’s work across these labels yet, start now. And if you get the chance to get on the Vida Valiente mailing list or book a tasting at Edge Hill, do not sleep on it.
Drop a comment or DM me on Instagram (@wtfab) if you’ve tasted any of these wines or you’re planning a trip to St. Helena—I’d love to hear about it! 😉
Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of What The Fab, a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.
