One of Wine Country’s most prolific winery owners recently closed two of his Napa Valley tasting rooms.
Jean-Charles Boisset — a French vintner whose Boisset Collection holdings include Napa Valley’s Raymond Vineyards; Sonoma County’s Buena Vista and DeLoach; and the famed Oakville Grocery — shuttered Chateau Buena Vista in downtown Napa and the JCB Tasting Salon in Yountville in the past month.
Boisset Collection is the holding company for Boisset’s seemingly endless list of endeavors, which include, in addition to winery estates and brands that sell wines from both California and his native Burgundy, spirits, specialty food markets and luxury goods. The collection’s tasting rooms are known for their flamboyant design, typically featuring a combination of red velvet, leopard print, marble, mirrors and crystal chandeliers. In addition to wine, they offer caviar and chocolates, as well as perfume, jewelry and crystal glassware, and they frequently host elaborate, themed soirées, such as Gatsby, James Bond and Barbie parties.
The closures follow four years of rapid expansion of the Boisset Collection, yet another sign that the wine crisis has hit the industry’s power players. (See also: the 2024 winery sales and tasting room closures by wine giants Constellation and Duckhorn.) Between 2021 and 2024, Boisset acquired Rutherford’s Elizabeth Spencer Winery, the historic Calistoga Depot and the Ink House, a luxury Napa Valley inn. He opened new tasting rooms in Napa and St. Helena, launched a tequila brand and unveiled a new, one-and-a-half-mile entryway to Raymond Vineyards, complete with a 10-foot-tall sculpture of his right eye. (Separate from the Boisset Collection, Boisset and his wife, fellow famed vintner Gina Gallo, also bought Napa Valley’s Flora Springs Winery.)
Last year, leading up to the closings, the serial entrepreneur was uncharacteristically quiet. The company’s biggest 2025 announcement was that it was offering free tasting flights at DeLoach and Raymond — perhaps a clue that the company, like most California wineries, was grappling with visitation declines. A flurry of closures hit Wine Country last year, and more are expected to follow in 2026. In a reflective Instagram post on Dec. 31, Boisset noted that “the wine world is uncertain.”
An expansion of Sonoma’s Buena Vista Winery, one of Boisset’s earliest California acquisitions, the Chateau Buena Vista tasting room in downtown Napa opened just three years ago. It paired Buena Vista’s Napa Valley wines with Champagne, caviar and local chocolate. Patrick Egan, Boisset Collection senior vice president of marketing and communications, confirmed the closure and said that Chateau Buena Vista’s experiences will move to the winery estate in Sonoma. “Embracing those experiences at the winery will allow us to fully represent Buena Vista’s Napa Valley vision at the winery itself,” he said.
The JCB Tasting Salon was the last of Boisset’s Yountville businesses. It was located in a business park called JCB Village, which also previously included Atelier by JCB, a specialty food store that sold truffles, caviar and foie gras, and Senses by JCB, a high-end fashion boutique and medical spa.
Yountville’s JCB Tasting Salon is the third JCB Collection location to close, following one in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco and another in Healdsburg. (JCB Collection is Boisset’s signature wine brand, producing wines from Napa Valley, Sonoma County and Burgundy; it also has an extensive collection of sparklings.) Boisset also closed Healdsburg’s Oakville Grocery outpost in 2023 after a 25-year run; the original Napa Valley grocery, which Boisset also owns, is the only location left.
Egan, the spokesperson, attributed the JCB closure to its lease coming to an end, and did not offer a reason for the Chateau Buena Vista closure. But the wine industry downturn likely played a role in both. And while there are just two remaining JCB locations — one at Raymond Vineyards and the new spot on St. Helena’s Main Street — he promises more developments on the horizon, such as a “permanent home” for the JCB Collection in Rutherford “with an original vision that will redefine wine membership.”
Boisset has another new opening coming up as well — though, notably, it’s not related to wine. Napa Fragrance, a perfume shop, is set to open in downtown Napa next month.
Jess Lander joined the food and wine team at the San Francisco Chronicle as wine reporter in 2022. Her writing encompasses the California wine industry — from Santa Barbara to Mendocino — with a focus on Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Jess reports on winery and vineyard acquisitions; controversial Napa land use debates; wildfires; a growing farmworker rights movement; and Wine Country’s most exciting restaurant and tasting room openings. Occasionally, Jess also writes about her favorite food: cheese.
Originally from Boston, Jess moved to Napa Valley in 2010 and has extensively covered California wine country for numerous national and international publications. In 2021, Jess published “The Essential Napa Valley Cookbook,” a project that raised more than $100,000 for Napa Valley restaurant workers impacted by the pandemic.
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