California, North Coast - Napa County Flashcards
What is Napa Valley known for?
High Quality Wines from Cab Sav
What does it represent in terms of production vs value?
4% of production
27% of retail value
What does Napa Valley AVA cover?
encompasses whole valley, plus 16 smaller AVAs
What size is Napa Valley?
30 miles x 5 miles wide
what is the River called?
Napa River
Which mountains are on the West and East of Napa Valley?
in the west (and north) = Maycamas
to the East - Vaca Mountains
What else is Napa known for?
Most expensive vineyards land and some of the most prestigious wineries of California
Where will you find vineyards in Napa?
On the valley floor and on the valley sides
What are the cooling influences?
Valley is open to San Pablo Bay, tidal nr San Fran, and as vineyards heat up during the day air rises and it pulls cold air and fog in from the bay up the valley
What are the AVAs on the valley floor?
Carneros AVA
Coombsville AVA
Oak Knoll AVA
What effect does the cold air/fog have
cold air and fog particularly felt by valley floor vineyards which sit under fog layer giving hi diurnal range.
The fog doesn’t burn off until well into the morning, limited hours of warmth and sunlight.
Where is Los Carneros AVA?
climate?grapes?
is the most southerly vineyard area on valley floor and extends into Sonoma county, cool enough to be a source of high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
What is the main grape in Coombsville and Oak Knoll
Cabernet Sauvignon, but Merlot and Chardonnay also grown.
Where are Yountville AVA, Stags Leap District AVA, Oakville AVA and Rutherford AVA located?
Further north up the valley. Warm climates, but still cooling influence from winds and fog from the San Pablo Bay
What grape is grown most in these AVAs?
Cabernet Sauvignon, some merlot, cab franc and Zinfandel in Rutherford
What are these AVAs known for?
Tasting note for Cab Sav?
renowned for making premium wines from Cab Sav.
Ripe fruit
med-full bodied
high ripe tannins
juicy blackcurrant, blackberry and plum fruit,
spice of liquorice and cloves, herbs
What white grape grows well here?
Sauvignon Blanc
ripe juicy wines with peach and tropical fruit with medium acidity
What is the most famous vineyard here?
planted on?
Rutherford Bench, 3 mile stretch of vineyards located on gently sloping alluvial fan at bottom of Mayacamas Mountains.
Describe Saint Helena AVA and Calistoga AVA?
why is Calistoga slightly cooler?
Located further north, v little influence from San Pablo Bay, warm hot conditions.
Calistoga has some cooling influence during afternoon and night from Pacific through chalk hill gap
What’s grapes are planted in Saint Helena and Calistoga AVA?
Cab Sab
Merlot
Syrah
Petit Sirah
Zinfandel
If Saint Helena and Calistoga have warmest daytime temps, what wines do they produce?
Most concentrated, FB wine in the valley
What is the AVA on the South West Mountain Side? Why cooler?
effect on wines
Mount Veeder AVA on South West of Valley is the coolest mountain valley AVA, still receives some coastal influence, Cab Sav struggles to ripen
FB wines with higher alcohol levels, greater tannin level
less richness on palate vs Valley floor.
Why do the mountain side AVAs have different climate?
Vineyards on valley sides lie above the fog layer, aka Mountain AVAs
What else affects Mountain AVAs?
Altitude?
What effect on grapes?
Receive longer hours of sunlight vs Valley floor, altitude up to 800m means less temperature extremes, lower diurnal range. Combination of climate and soils mean mountain AVAs have higher levels of tannins and acidity vs those on valley Floor
Describe Atlas Peak AVA? location?
aspect, sun?
south east of valley, above Stags Leap district, relatively cool but has afternoon sun (east facing)
Describe Howell Mountain AVA
location
climate
north east of valley (above Calistoga), one of warmest
produces intensely concentrated ripe Cab Sav with high firm tannins
Describe Spring Mountain District AVA and Diamond Mountain District AVA
climate?
on north-west side nr Mayacamas
slightly cooler
What soils does Napa Valley have?
typical on mountain sides?
Wide variety due to
Tectonic plate and volcanic activity from 150m years ago.
Soils on mountains tend to be thin and poor, restricting vigour = reduced yields concentrate grapes
What is the soil in the middle and east of Napa Valley?
Valley floor typically made from silt and clay, formed by Napa River as flooding and shrinking over time, most fertile and water retaining = less structured wines
Describe Alluvial Fans? made from?
aka?
created at the bottom of the mountains, usually on west side of Napa valley, caused by deposition of sediments of mountain streams…
Alluvial fans often called benches
Deep, rocky and moderate fertility.
Describe vineyard management in Napa?
What % of Cab Sav is planted
Value?
Cab Sav accounts for 40% of total production, 55% of crop value
What was the style of wine in 80s and 90s?
1980s and 1990s preferences of the consumers and critics were FB intense wines, grapes harvested late giving extra ripe flavours, high alcohol and low acidity
both reds and whites matured in hi proportion of new oak, vanilla, coconut and toasty characters
How have wines types evolved in the last few decades?
grapes picked earlier, retaining acidity, less time in oak, optical sorters used to select healthiest fruit, plus concrete eggs being trialled for a different blending component.
What other grapes are grown in Napa?
Merlot, Pinot Noir, ZIN, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Cab Franc, Syrah and Petite Sirah.
IS there much blending in Napa?
often single varietally labelled wines will have a small proportion of another varieties, ie, hi proportion of Cab Sav plus merlot/cab franc and/or Petit Sirah
Blending across vineyards?
is very common, may be within same or across different AVAs, blending of fruit from cooler and/or warmer vineyards
Name 2 single vineyard wines?
To Kalon, Rutherford Bench
Martha’s Vineyard
Describe Cab Sav wines in Napa
good to outstanding, premium or super-premium in price
name 3 significant producers of Cab Sav in Napa
Screaming Eagle
Harlan Estate
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
What are the 2 key white grapes in Napa?
What determines the style of the white wines?
Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, influenced by site - cooler valley floor AVAs = higher acidity, warmer AVAs give riper fruit - more stone fruit and tropical rather than citrus
Mountain AVAs tend to have less pronounced fruit,
Style of Chardonnay?
fermented and matured in oak, less new oak than previously
Style of Sauvignon Blanc?
made in unbaked style, S/S fermentation, early released. Some oaked style - smoky notes.
