Jean-Charles Boisset, the flamboyant French vintner behind the Boisset Collection, has quietly gone dark at two Napa Valley tasting rooms in the past month. Chateau Buena Vista in downtown Napa and the JCB Tasting Salon in Yountville are no longer welcoming walk‑ins.
What Boisset said
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Boisset Collection senior vice president Patrick Egan confirmed the closures and said Chateau Buena Vista’s downtown experiences will shift to Buena Vista’s winery estate in Sonoma. Egan told the paper that the JCB salon’s shutdown is tied to its lease ending, and he promised a “permanent home” for the JCB Collection in Rutherford along with a new membership‑driven vision.
From expansion to retrenchment
The pullback follows several years of aggressive expansion by Boisset across Napa and Sonoma, followed by experiments with new hospitality models meant to boost visitation. In a June 13, 2025 press release, the Boisset Collection highlighted complimentary tasting flights at DeLoach and Raymond and laid out its California portfolio, which includes Buena Vista, Raymond, DeLoach and Elizabeth Spencer.
The fate of JCB in Yountville
Local listings back up the news that the Yountville salon has gone dark. TripAdvisor now shows the JCB entry as closed, and regional wine guide Napa Wine Project reports that the Yountville space shuttered in late 2025. Those moves follow earlier exits by JCB from a Ritz‑Carlton lobby in San Francisco and an outpost in Healdsburg, trimming the brand’s walk‑in footprint in the valley.
Where to taste now
For visitors still chasing the JCB theatrics, the collection continues to spotlight JCB experiences at Raymond Vineyards and at a St. Helena location. Chateau Buena Vista, which originally served as a downtown Napa extension of Buena Vista’s historic Sonoma estate, is now being refocused back toward that estate setting. Current visiting details and reservations are listed on the Buena Vista and Boisset Collection websites.
What’s next
The closures arrive as Boisset tweaks both its physical footprint and its mix of offerings. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a Napa Fragrance perfume shop is slated to open in downtown Napa next month, and company leaders say they are putting more emphasis on curated, membership‑style experiences at estate properties. For now, anyone seeking the full JCB spectacle will find it concentrated at those remaining estate tasting rooms rather than in downtown salons.
