Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Oakville, CA

Oakville is a census-designated place in the Napa Valley of Napa County — an unincorporated village, not a city — with a population of just 49 at the 2020 census, down from 71 in 2010.

Oakville started life in the 1860s as a water stop for the steam trains of the Napa Valley Railroad Company, the railroad founded by California pioneer Samuel Brannan in 1864 to shuttle tourists between the Vallejo ferry docks and the resort town of Calistoga.

Oakville gained its name from the dense groves of dark green valley oaks that once covered the area.

H. W. Crabb turned Oakville into wine country after buying 240 acres near the Napa River in 1868 and planting a vineyard and winery he named To Kalon — Greek for "the beautiful" — which had grown to 430 acres by 1880.

In 1903 the U.S. Department of Agriculture established an experimental vineyard station in Oakville known as Oakville Station, which is still operated by the University of California, Davis.

Oakville was formally declared its own appellation within the Napa Valley AVA in 1993, and the Oakville AVA now holds more than 5,000 acres of vineyard and wineries including the Robert Mondavi Winery, Opus One, Heitz Wine Cellars, and Screaming Eagle.

Oakville's 49 residents live in just 29 households averaging only 1.69 people each, and unusually for such a wealthy area, about 72% of its homes are occupied by renters — many of them vineyard and winery workers.

Oakville was majority Hispanic or Latino at the 2020 census, with 51% of its tiny population identifying as Hispanic or Latino.

The Napa Valley Wine Train still runs through Oakville on the same route the original 19th-century steam train used.

Oakville's best-known non-winery business is the Oakville Grocery on State Route 29, a popular picnic-supply stop for wine country tourists.