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Napa wineries are branching outBy CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Staff Writer© St. Petersburg Times published March 5, 2003
The single best-known word in American wine is Napa. Make it two words: Napa Valley. You thought you could figure it out just driving up the California valley past a lineup of famous names, like all the bottles you ever opened had lined the road, label to label: Beaulieu Vineyards, Beringer, Cakebread, Heitz, Louis Martini, Robert Mondavi, even Sutter Home. For years, if you wanted America's most popular wines, the cabernet sauvignon of Bordeaux and the chardonnay of Burgundy, you went to Napa. But Napa is not so simple anymore. After a decade of change, including an infestation of bugs that forced winemakers to replant almost every vineyard, the evolution of the wine industry hasn't stopped. In one way, Napa has become more of the same: cabernet sauvignon. More cabernet vines are planted there today than ever before. Two-thirds of the more than 40,000 acres planted have vines of red grapes, and more than half of those were cabernet in 2001. Some reports even claim that 70 percent of last year's grapes were cabernet. It's much harder to find chardonnay north of Yountville than it was 10 years ago. This may be the best land for cab in America and the most expensive, so expensive that it's difficult for growers to justify planting anything else. That doesn't mean all Napa cabernets are the same -- or worth $50 a bottle. Just the opposite, judging from the Napa vintners who visited Tampa last month for the Abilities tasting. There is more diversity than ever, which can get confusing. There are 300 wineries in Napa alone, and new ones arrive with each vintage. They range from old estates turned wineries, like the Oakville Ranch, run by Paula Kornell, to the Gargiulo Vineyards, started by a Naples produce broker. And though each bottle will proudly proclaim Napa Valley origins, many more, especially from the newest wineries, will brag about smaller districts within the county, from Howell Mountain to Rutherford. Some make wine only from what they grow on their estates; others rely on buying grapes from throughout the valley. Bob Burrows, a San Francisco road builder who started Liparita, travels with three kinds of rocks to show the variety of soils he seeks out from vineyards that circle the county like "a necklace of jewels." Napa Valley does cover a multitude of terrain. On a wine label, "Napa Valley" means anywhere in Napa County, which includes the floor of the valley -- think about this -- and also the mountains that shape the valley. You can't have one without the other, and cabernet grapes that grow on the mountainsides can be very different from those on the valley floor. Then figure that the land was formed by layers of different soils that rumpled and eroded, leaving patches of soil types up and down the valley floor and in the mountains. Ultimately, the government has recognized a dozen separate subappellations within Napa. When a wine wears any geographic term, that means at least 85 percent of its grapes came from that area. Even though wine lovers always praised sturdy old cabs from Spring Mountain, black red wines that could outlive a sequoia, or the velvety wines from the center of the valley floor softened with "Rutherford dust," the prominence of subappellations on labels is new. On the other hand, though more vineyards are planting cabernet, leftover lands that aren't suitable for cabernet now grow a much odder mix, from pinot noir to lesser Rhone grapes such as viognier, marsanne and roussanne. Napa also grows more of the other reds used to blend with cabernet in Bordeaux: merlot malbec, petite verdot and especially cabernet franc, often enough to bottle on its own as a fat, juicy red. Vintners also are experimenting more with sangiovese and rediscovering zinfandel, which may be Napa's first love and still at home there, especially in mountain vineyards. The biggest cause of change started out as bad news: A louse called phylloxera that destroyed the vineyards of Bordeaux in the 19th century arrived in Napa 15 years ago and forced growers to pull out thousands of acres of vines. But the replanting forced new, more rational thinking about what to plant, where to plant it and how. "You don't just plant cabernet and chardonnay because you like them," says John MacKay, winemaker for Napa Wine Co. "There were lots of grapes planted in the wrong location. Now we're trying to define areas that have specific character." When S. Anderson Vineyards, a longtime specialist in sparkling wine and chardonnay, tore out its vineyards in Stags Leap District, it replanted almost all cabernet and Bordeaux varieties, which have given it a new reputation for superb, rich reds. In other areas, including some of the lowest lands along the Napa River, growers put in more sauvignon blanc. The new rationalization has upset even relatively modern wisdom. In theory, temperatures are coolest in Los Carneros, the southernmost part of the valley, and get warmer as they move north through Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga. Los Carneros was always thought to be best for chardonnay and pinot noir. It's still good for them, but others are finding that merlot and syrah grown in the cooler areas can be more elegant than their soft, warm weather friends. There's also growth and new pride in other parts of the south end of the county. Trefethen Winery, the first you pass leaving the city of Napa heading north on the wine trail, has sought approval for an American Viticultural Area. The Oak Knoll AVA would cover a big stretch of flat, gravelly land that remains a bright spot for rich, melony chardonnay. The greatest amount of exploration has been in the mountains on both sides of the valley. Although pioneers planted grapes there 100 years ago, mountain vineyards can be difficult. They are harder and more expensive to farm and not as productive, but the grapes are small and intensely flavored, producing inky wines that are lean and tight when young but mature into great, long-lived wines. Spring Mountain Vineyard, where prize grapes have grown for 125 years, is now selling its 1979 and 1985 cabernets as well as '99 wines, and some say the '85 is tight. Although increasingly tough environmental rules make it difficult to clear and plant any hillside, many Napa wineries grow a lot of their cabernet up high, and some of the newest labels are starting there. Grapes planted on a slope get more sun and wind and better drainage, but mountain vineyards are remarkably diverse: Slopes that face east get hotter, those on the west may get more daylight, and every mountain includes its own flat valleys and meadows at higher elevations. As any of these areas have been replanted, Napa wineries have access to space age technology and great advances in wine research. "It boggles the mind," says Jack Cakebread, who started his winery 30 years ago, when he also had an auto repair business and a budding photography career. "We were so primitive then. It's like going from your Remington manual to a PC or a laptop," he says. Computers now analyze the sunlight and determine the direction of the rows of vines. Intricate soil analysis can call for six different root stocks in a single row every time the soil changes, and infrared data from helicopters set the time to pick each vine. Research has led growers to change the way they train the vines on trellises, choose the clones of each varietal and, ultimately, change spacing to grow more grapes per acre without sacrificing quality. Although many economic factors have changed, Napa wines are still expensive and that won't change. The price of vineyard land has soared, with ordinary plantable land costing more than $100,000 an acre. Francis Ford Coppola just bought some vineyard land for $350,000 an acre. And, with Napa County limiting development, there's not much more land. "All over the world, there's only a finite amount of land where the sun, the water and the soil, I guess the terroir, is like this," Cakebread says. (Terroir is a French word for the soil, climate and identity of a particular place.) Even with increased productivity and a wine glut across California, the cost of Napa cabernet grapes last year rose to almost $4,000 a ton, and $7,000 for the highest-quality grapes, MacKay says. At those prices, "It would be hard to make a lower-end Napa wine to sell in the mid teens," MacKay explained. Similarly, it's difficult to sell other varietals for more than $20 a bottle. If there is a surplus of Napa cabernet from the last two bumper crops, however, wineries turned to other strategies rather than release a $10 cab with "Napa Valley" on the label. Some will hold back the better vintages while they push the lesser '98 and 2000 releases; other Napa surplus will show up anonymously but deliciously in less expensive wines labeled "North Coast" or "California." Cakebread, for one, doesn't worry about the increasingly high price of Napa wines, and his cabs now run $40 to $50 a bottle. "We can't make a wine to fit a price. We have to make the best quality we can. We're in a global market, and it has be worth however much yen, every pound or Deutschmark we charge. But I can only sell one bottle. The second one the consumer will buy only if the quality's there." The family celebrated the 30th anniversary of their winery by opening a bottle of the first wine they made, a 1974. Cakebread reports it was drinking well and remembers that when it was released, it sold for $3.50. -- Chris Sherman, who writes about food and wine for the St. Petersburg Times, is the author of "The Buzz on Wine" (Lebhar-Friedman Books, $16.95). Finding your way in Napa Valley• HISTORY: Grapes were planted in Napa 150 years ago but Prohibition crippled the industry. There were only a few dozen wineries — Beaulieu, Beringer, Inglenook, Christian Brothers, Charles Krug and Louis Martini among them — until Robert Mondavi left Krug and opened his own winery in 1966, starting the modern wine era. All of Napa County is classified as the Napa Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area), which local vintners promote with the slogan, “To a wine grape, it’s Eden.” Yet soil type, rainfall and angle of the sun can vary row by row throughout a vineyard. Still, each area shares certain traits. Mountain areas are known for red wines, the prestigious valleys produce more smoothness. Sauvignon blanc grows better in the northern areas, which are warmer, and chardonnay in the cooler south, temperature inversions brought about by coastal influences. Many wineries grow or buy grapes from throughout the county and may make the wines in Napa Valley, with a specific geographic appellation, or blend them, believing that the sum is better than the parts. All wines made from grapes grown in Napa County will be identified as Napa Valley; some will also identify a smaller sub-appellation or AVA. Some may choose not to specify a smaller AVA, even when justifiable. Wine identified as “estate-grown” means grapes came from the winery’s own vineyards, which may adjoin the winery or may be located somewhere else. • SUBAPPELLATIONS: Many wineries and vineyards are located in Calistoga, the city of Napa and other parts of the county. Pope Valley, north of Howell Mountain, and the far southern end of the county are among the fastest growing vineyard areas. The following is a list of Napa Valley subappellations and recommended wineries that are located within them or which use grapes from that area. Mayacamas Mountains
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