USA - North Coast; Napa Flashcards
What is Napa known for? How much of production and sales does it account for? What’s the situation of AVAs and labelling of so?
Napa Valley is known globally for high quality wines, especially from Cab Sauv.
In Cali, it represents 4% of production but 27% of value sales.
Napa Valley AVA encompasses the whole Valley, but the area has 16 smaller AVAs within.
Conjunctive labelling laws mean wines that qualify to be labelled as a single specific AVA eg Rutherford, must also include ‘Napa Valley’.
What is the size and natural factors that affect climate in Napa Valley?
50km long by 8km wide, with 18,200 ha under vine, and formed by the Napa River.
Mayacamas to the W, Vaca to the E. Vineyards are found both on the valley floor and on the mountain slopes either side.
The Mayacamas shelter the valley from the cold Pacific ocean while the Vaca mountains protect the area from the hot Central Valley.
The valley is open to the San Pablo Bay in the S.
As vineyards heat up in the day, air rises and pulls cool air and fog from the bay up the valley in the afternoon.
What are the key southerly AVAs on the valley floor? What climate and styles are found here?
Cold air and fog is particularly felt by the valley floor vineyards, which sit under the fog layer and give a high diurnal range.
Vineyards most affected are those southerly of the valley floor.
AVAs such as Carneros and Coombsville, but also Oak Knoll (just N of the city of Napa), the fog doesn’t burn off until well into the morning: limit sunlight and warmth.
The furthest S, Carneros is best known for early ripening PN and Chard.
Coombsville and Oak Knoll mainly host Cab Sauv, But Chard and PN are widely grown.
Here Cab Sauv and Merlot tend to be lighted bodied and have fresher fruit.
What are the key central valley floor AVAs, from N to S? Climate, key varieties and profile?
Yountville, Stags Leap District, Oakville and Rutherford.
Warm climates, but still cooled somewhat by the winds and fog from the bay, decreasing as you go N.
Cab Sauv is predominant, with smaller plantings of Merlot, Cab Franc and some Zinfandel in Rutherford.
Cab Sauv tends to be concentrsted with ripe fruit, medium (+) to full body with high tannins, they tend to be rounder and more fruity in youth than the more structured wines from the mountains, with juicy blackcurrant, blackberry and plum fruit, often spice (liquorice, cloves) and herbs.
Sauvignon Blanc is the main white, producing ripe, juicy wines with peach and tropical flavours and medium (+) acidity.
What is the most famous vineyard area in Oakville and Rutherford?
The Rutherford Bench. A narrow (5km) stretch of vineyards located on a gently sloping, alluvial fan at the bottom of the Myacamas range.
What are the furthest N valley floor AVAs? Climate and varieties?
St Helena and Calistoga. Barely receive any influence from the Bay. Conditions are warm to hot.
Calistoga gains some cooling influence in the afternoon and night from Pacific breezes that blow in through the Chalk Hill Gap (break in Myacamas).
Cab Sauv is still widely planted, along with Merlot, but can also find Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel.
What’s the climate and topography of the mountain AVAs?
Vineyards are generally above the fog layer and hence can receive longer hours of sunlight than many on the valley floor.
The cooling influence comes from altitude (up to 800m).
Overall, this means there’s less extreme temperatures and a lower diurnal range.
In general, the combination of climate and soil means the wines have higher tannin and acidity than from the valley floor.
Which are the warmest and coolest mountain AVAs?
West facing vineyards, generally on the E side of the Valley, as they’re exposed to the intense afternoon sun, and hence are warmer than those facing E, giving higher alcohol and riper fruit.
Temperatures differ from N to S as the most S gain Pacific influence.
This means Mount Vedeer on the SW is the coolest mountain AVA, with Cab Sauv struggling to ripen in some years.
Atlas Peak to the SE is also relatively cool, but gains afternoon sun.
Howell Mountain, in the NE of the valley is one of the warmest AVAs, producing intensely concentrated, ripe Cab Sauv with high, firm tannins.
Spring Mountain District and Diamon Mountain District on the NW are slightly cooler.
What is an overview of soil types in Napa?
A wide variety due to tectonic and volcanic activity from over 150m years ago. Soils change over small areas so it’s possible to find multiple different soil types in a single vineyard.
What soil types are found in the mountains?
Soils on the hillsides tend to be thin and poor in nutrients, restricting vigour and leading to reduced yields of small, concentrated grapes.
Where are the most fertile soils in Napa?
The middle and east of the valley floor, typically made from silt and clay, formed by the Napa river as it’s flooded and shrunk over time. These have the highest fertility and water retaining capacity, leading to less structured wines.
What soil type is found along the W side of the valley?
Alluvial fans are created at the bottom of the mountains, generally the west side, caused by the deposition of mountain streams as they reach the valley floor. these are often called ‘benches’ and are deep, rocky, and have moderate fertility, wines are often described as somewhere between the mountains and valley floor.
Many of the valley floor AVAs have both alluvial fans and fluvial soils in their boundaries.
How much room does Napa have for vineyard expansion? What effect does this have?
Almost all viable and permitted vineyard land has been planted. Legislation prevents slopes with more than 30% gradient being converted to vineyard land, instead it’s forested to help reduce erosion.
This, alongside popularity and prestige, leads to incredibly high grape and land prices.
Why is Napa county unlikely to see change in development?
The Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve, established in 1968, awarded tax benefits for people that kept vineyard land rather than built upon it.
Today, nearly 90% of Napa County is protected from development, meaning that even with it’s desirable location not far from San Francisco Bay area, it’s not under threat from housing or business development
What is key vineyard training?
Typically pruned and trained to cordon or replacement spur, with VSP.
Mechanisation can be used on the valley floor, but sites in the mountains can sometimes only be tended by hand.
With a dry growing season, drip irrigation is widely used.
What is the risk of frost in Napa
Potential for those on the valley floor, but the warmer nights and air flow in the mountain AVAs makes it less risk prone.
What is Napa’s stance on sustainability?
Napa has a sustainability certification programme called Napa Green. Certification is available for both the vineyard and winery. Currently around 60% of Napa County vineyard land is certified.
What is the breakdown of top varieties in terms of production and value?
Cab Sauv accounts for 40% of production but 55% of crop value, with smaller plantings of Merlot, Zinfandel, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Cab Franc, Syrah and Petite Sirah.
Chard is the most planted white, followed by Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.
What is the historic style of Napa wines?
In the 1980s and 90s the preference of consumers and critics was for full bodied, intense wines. Achieved by often harvesting relatively late ‘long hang time’, giving extra ripe fruit flavours, high alcohol and lower acidities.
Both red and whites were matured in a high proportion of new oak, giving overt vanilla, coconut and toasty characs.
How have styles of winemaking changed?
Evolved over the last few decades. Today, the style is more divergent. Grapes are often harvested earlier than in the past, and extra ripe styles are now rarely seen.
High proportions of oak are still common for red, though the duration in has been reduced.
Wineries are generally well-resourced, and this is exampled with optical sorters, for selecting the healthiest fruit or experimentation with concrete eggs, potentially just to provide a blending component.
What is the stance on blending?
Even if wines meet the requirements of a single varietal, there’s likely to be a small proportion of another variety blended in. Typically Cab Sauv with Merlot, Cab Franc and/or Petite Sirah blended in.
Blending across vineyards is also common. This can be within or across AVAs. This may include blending of different soil types, eg alluvial fan of fluvial soils, or across different AVAs eg cooler fruit from southerly AVAs eg Carneros or Coombsville with warmer AVAs, eg, Rutherford or Oakville.
When are single-vineyard wines most common?
When coming from a famous single vineyard, eg To Kalon (Rutherford Bench) or Martha’s Vineyard.
What is the general style of Napa Cab Sauv? Significant P?
varies greatly across the valley, depending on site but also viticultural and winemaking decisions.
Range from good to outstanding and premium to super premium.
Screaming Eagle, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Harlan Estate.
What are the key white grapes and their styles?
Chard and Sauv B. Profile is influenced by site. Cooler valley floor AVAs give higher acidities, warmer valley floor give riper fruit (stone and tropical rather than citrus), and mountain AVAs typically produce wines with less pronounced fruit.
Chard is often fermented and matured in oak, though less new than in the past.
Sauv is usually steel for fresh fruity early release, though some P use new oak.
