The Palmazes bought a forgotten stone winery, a fine old house badly in need of renovation, and acres of land that had once produced fine Napa wines. The little valley had been the site of Cedar Knoll Vineyard and Winery, founded in 1881 by Henry Hagen, one of Napa Valley's pioneer winemakers.

Henry Hagen produced wines that garnered many awards, including a silver medal at the Paris Exposition of 1889. During that era, Cedar Knoll was one of Napa's premier wineries. The vineyards survived the Wine Country’s phylloxera infestation in the 1890s, but Prohibition was fatal. The winery fell into disrepair and the vineyards lay fallow for nearly eighty years.

Today, the vineyards are burgeoning, the restored Hagen house is a family home again, and the winery has been reinvented.