Today, in The French Laundry Restaurant, their friendly presence provides a true feeling to diners of being guests in a, big, warm home. The “Schmitt kids” were always around the Vintage as it grew, working in every phase of the operation. It was also a fantastic training ground for what the Schmitts would do later in The French Laundry. It was a tremendous project, and one which never became boring. The decision to leave the security of the banking business with a family of five children to renovate the old building was not an easy one, but it offered an opportunity for the family to be involved in a business together. For ten years they were the managing partners of Vintage 1870, the complex of shops forged from the old Groezinger Winery. The Schmitts came to Yountville eleven years ago, from the hot regions of central California.
Napa Valley residents have watched the Schmitt family children grow up. Print copies of the entire article are available in the NCHS archives. This is an excerpt describing the original owners, the Schmitt family. In 1979, Carolee Luper reported on the success of the local Yountville restaurant the French Laundry in the Napa Valley Magazine.
