When visitors travel to Napa Valley from around the world, they’re likely to miss the art scene.
“It takes an effort to get to the [Napa Valley Museum in Yountville]. It’s not something you drive by, so that can be limiting,” says Laura Rafaty, who has served as the museum’s executive director for the past seven years.
According to Rafaty, 68% of the museum’s visitors come from outside of the Napa area. And since they’re often cramming a weekend’s-worth of activities into a few precious hours — wine tours peppered with visits to The French Laundry and a spa appointment or two — it can be difficult to make time to take in art.
The museum is hoping to change that with its latest move: an expansion site along Highway 29 in St. Helena, which runs through the heart of wine country.
In September, the additional museum space, dubbed the Napa Valley Museum of Art & Culture (or the MAC), will take over a large beige building that formerly housed Gary’s Wine & Marketplace and Dean & DeLuca. Conveniently, they’ll be neighbored by the Michelin-star PRESS Restaurant and chateau-style winery V. Sattui.

It’s a much different vibe than their original location, which is a few miles away and tucked along a backroad, inside the oldest and largest military veteran’s home in the country. Though the original museum will remain open — with a plan to increase their spotlight on local contemporary artists and art history within and beyond the region — the additional museum space will allow for a greater offering of “splashier” exhibitions.