California, North Coast - Napa County

Question 1

What is Napa Valley known for?

Answer 1

High Quality Wines from Cab Sav

Question 2

What does it represent in terms of production vs value?

Answer 2

4% of production
27% of retail value

Question 3

What does Napa Valley AVA cover?

Answer 3

encompasses whole valley, plus 16 smaller AVAs

Question 4

What size is Napa Valley?

Answer 4

30 miles x 5 miles wide

Question 5

what is the River called?

Answer 5

Napa River

Question 6

Which mountains are on the West and East of Napa Valley?

Answer 6

in the west (and north) = Maycamas
to the East - Vaca Mountains

Question 7

What else is Napa known for?

Answer 7

Most expensive vineyards land and some of the most prestigious wineries of California

Question 8

Where will you find vineyards in Napa?

Answer 8

On the valley floor and on the valley sides

Question 9

What are the cooling influences?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What are the AVAs on the valley floor?

Answer 10

Carneros AVA
Coombsville AVA
Oak Knoll AVA

Question 11

What effect does the cold air/fog have

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Where is Los Carneros AVA?
climate?grapes?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What is the main grape in Coombsville and Oak Knoll

Answer 13

Cabernet Sauvignon, but Merlot and Chardonnay also grown.

Question 14

Where are Yountville AVA, Stags Leap District AVA, Oakville AVA and Rutherford AVA located?

Answer 14

Further north up the valley. Warm climates, but still cooling influence from winds and fog from the San Pablo Bay

Question 15

What grape is grown most in these AVAs?

Answer 15

Cabernet Sauvignon, some merlot, cab franc and Zinfandel in Rutherford

Question 16

What are these AVAs known for?
Tasting note for Cab Sav?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What white grape grows well here?

Answer 17

Sauvignon Blanc
ripe juicy wines with peach and tropical fruit with medium acidity

Question 18

What is the most famous vineyard here?
planted on?

Answer 18

Rutherford Bench, 3 mile stretch of vineyards located on gently sloping alluvial fan at bottom of Mayacamas Mountains.

Question 19

Describe Saint Helena AVA and Calistoga AVA?
why is Calistoga slightly cooler?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What’s grapes are planted in Saint Helena and Calistoga AVA?

Answer 20

Cab Sab
Merlot
Syrah
Petit Sirah
Zinfandel

Question 21

If Saint Helena and Calistoga have warmest daytime temps, what wines do they produce?

Answer 21

Most concentrated, FB wine in the valley

Question 22

What is the AVA on the South West Mountain Side? Why cooler?
effect on wines

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Why do the mountain side AVAs have different climate?

Answer 23

Vineyards on valley sides lie above the fog layer, aka Mountain AVAs

Question 24

What else affects Mountain AVAs?
Altitude?
What effect on grapes?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Describe Atlas Peak AVA? location? aspect, sun?

Answer 25

south east of valley, above Stags Leap district, relatively cool but has afternoon sun (east facing)

Question 26

Describe Howell Mountain AVA location climate

Answer 26

north east of valley (above Calistoga), one of warmest produces intensely concentrated ripe Cab Sav with high firm tannins

Question 27

Describe Spring Mountain District AVA and Diamond Mountain District AVA climate?

Answer 27

on north-west side nr Mayacamas slightly cooler

Question 28

What soils does Napa Valley have? typical on mountain sides?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

What is the soil in the middle and east of Napa Valley?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Describe Alluvial Fans? made from? aka?

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

Describe vineyard management in Napa? What % of Cab Sav is planted Value?

Answer 31

Cab Sav accounts for 40% of total production, 55% of crop value

Question 32

What was the style of wine in 80s and 90s?

Answer 32

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

Question 33

How have wines types evolved in the last few decades?

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

What other grapes are grown in Napa?

Answer 34

Merlot, Pinot Noir, ZIN, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Cab Franc, Syrah and Petite Sirah.

Question 35

IS there much blending in Napa?

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Blending across vineyards?

Answer 36

is very common, may be within same or across different AVAs, blending of fruit from cooler and/or warmer vineyards

Question 37

Name 2 single vineyard wines?

Answer 37

To Kalon, Rutherford Bench Martha's Vineyard

Question 38

Describe Cab Sav wines in Napa

Answer 38

good to outstanding, premium or super-premium in price

Question 39

name 3 significant producers of Cab Sav in Napa

Answer 39

Screaming Eagle Harlan Estate Stag's Leap Wine Cellars

Question 40

What are the 2 key white grapes in Napa? What determines the style of the white wines?

Answer 40

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,

Question 41

Style of Chardonnay?

Answer 41

fermented and matured in oak, less new oak than previously

Question 42

Style of Sauvignon Blanc?

Answer 42

made in unbaked style, S/S fermentation, early released. Some oaked style - smoky notes.