Napa Valley Wines
Napa Valley is, without question, the prime real estate region of California, due both to its favourable climatic and regional location, and also to the vast amounts of money that producers have pumped into establishing wineries in this golden valley.
Despite only having 4% of California's total wine production, it represents a whopping 27% of total value sold. That should give you an idea quite how premium it is. Napa is only a small area at 50km long, formed by the Napa River, with the Mayacamas Mountains to the west and Vaca Mountains to the east. The Mayacamas shelter it from cool Pacific breezes while the Vaca range protects it from the hot Central Valley. Generally, the climate is hot, however, to the south the valley is open to San Pablo Bay resulting in it being cooler the further south you go.
In the south, which partly includes the cool, Carneros valley, the climate is suited to the production of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, however most of the Napa Valley is all about Cabernet Sauvignon – rich, plush, polished – and shiraz, merlot and zinfandel.
Napa has always been the jewel in the crown of the Californian wine industry, with wineries established back in the late 19th century, the oldest being Beringer, which has the status of a place of national heritage; however, its world famous status, and prized location was undoubtedly partly driven by the famous ‘Judgment of Paris’ tasting in 1976, where 2 Napa wines, a Chardonnay and a Cabernet won against a grand cru white Burgundy and a Premier cru Bordeaux. Napa became the promised land, with producers and wine businesses falling over themselves to buy land and plant grapes in the 80s. From less than 25 wineries in the 60s, there were 200 by the late 80s.
Nowadays, nearly 90% of Napa is under high levels of protection from development, meaning that housing won't ruin this fantastic vineyard land. That said, pretty much all viable vineyard land has been planted on at this point!
Napa Valley Wine Regions
Napa has a unique mesoclimate, with 16 small AVAs that can be seperated by location on the valley floor or the mountain sides.
The valley floor feels the cooling Pacific breezes and fog the most, particularly in the south where the fog burns off much later into the day. The most affected regions are:
Carneros is best known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Coombsville and Oak Knoll for Cabernet Sauvignon, but Merlot and Chardonnay are also popular.
Further north on the valley floor it gets warmer in the day, but nights are still cooled by ocean breezes. Important AVAs here are:
Cabernet Sauvignon is best from these, with some Merlot and Cabernet Franc planted as well as Zinfandel in Rutherford. Cabernet Sauvignon here is rounder and more fruity in youth than the more structured wines from the mountains. Sauvignon Blanc is the main white grape.
Further north still, conditions get hot as the San Pablo Bay breezes struggle to reach that far. There is some important relief from winds through the Chalk Hill gap but not much. Key AVAs here include:
- St Helena AVA
- Calistoga AVA
Cabernet Sauvignon is widely planted, along with Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel.
On the mountain sides, vineyards are generally above the fog layer giving them longer hours of sunshine. Cooling influence instead comes from altitude alone meaning there is lower diurnal range. As a result, wines from here are often heftier, with greater tannin and acidity than the valley floor. Key AVAs, in order of cool temperatures, include:
- Mount Veeder AVA - the coolest mountain AVA where Cabernet Sauvignon can sometimes even struggle to ripen.
- Atlas Peak AVA
- Spring Mountain AVA
- Diamond Mountain AVA
- Howell Mountain - one of the warmest producing concentrated, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon.
Grapes And Styles of Napa Valley Wines
Cabernet Sauvignon – the undisputed king of the Napa (making up around 40% of production). Styles vary along the valley, with either those located in the hot, sunny AVAs creating high tannin, ripe, intense, complex, silky and sumptuous wines, with powerful richness, and concentrated blackcurrant, mint and deep chocolate character, or cooler AVAs creating more restrained, herbaceous styles. Without doubt, some of the highest quality Cabernet Sauvignon wines in the world… but at a price tag.
Zinfandel - the best is grown up on the slopes of the valley, rather than on the valley floor – soft, velvety, with rich, mulberry and forest fruit character, depth, intensity, and voluptuous complexity.
Chardonnay – the star of the white grapes, producing fantastic wines many of which are enhanced by judicious oak treatment. The recent trend is towards lighter, fresher styles, with less oak dominance, but subtle, enhancing wood treatment. At their best, these wines compete on the world stage, with top quality Burgundies. Cooler valley floor AVAs produce higher acidity, warmer valley floor AVAs riper fruit characteristics and mountain AVAs wines with less pronounced fruit.
Sauvignon Blanc - The best comes from cooler AVAs in the south of the region, with juicy peach and tropical flavours. Some of them are oaked which creates delicious, well-textured styles that you don't often see on the market.
Pinot Noir – this temperamental grape, which needs a cool climate, is very happy in the cooler regions where it produces stellar, world class wines, which are simply sublime in their elegance, and restrained, yet intense perfumed, violet and raspberry fruit flavours and aromas – complex, intriguing and beguiling.