From the earliest times the inhabitants of Chiles Valley have had an intimate relationship with the land. In the first days of California history, the Southern Wappo Indians lived in Chiles Valley and found great sustenance in a lively juice that they made from the berries of the Manzanita tree. In 1836 the first treaty between the Mexicans and the Indians was negotiated and George Yount was awarded the first land grant of Napa County called Rancho Caymus. Eight years later, in 1844, Colonel Joseph Chiles, who guided one of the earliest immigrant trains to California, was granted Rancho Catacula, now called Chiles Valley. This was the last of the nine Napa Land Grants awarded by General Vallejo. Chiles’s first agricultural venture was to plant vineyards and then build a distillery that produced excellent whiskey under the Rancho Catacula brand. Modern day vintners began to develop vineyards in the area in the 1960s. In recent years international wineries have purchased land in Chiles Valley to grow grapes.