France has Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. Italy has Tuscany and Piedmont. Germany has its Rhine and Mosel River Valleys.
In the United States, it’s Napa Valley that remains the shining star of wine.
Despite the popularity of the film “Sideways,” which bolstered recognition of both Pinot Noir and the Santa Barbara region, no other wine region in the country has such worldwide renown as Napa Valley.
But despite its pervasive reputation, the wine boom in Napa Valley is a relatively recent phenomenon. As late as 1960, only 25 wineries were operating in the Valley. Today, despite the cost of vineyard land in Napa Valley—or perhaps because of it—wine business is thriving there. Nearly 400 wineries now exist, a staggering figure when you consider how relatively small Napa Valley is. It is only about 30 miles long and a few miles wide in most places.
Of course, not every winery has its own winemaking facility, nor does every winery own its own vineyards. Grape-crushing facilities rent out wine production space to various wineries, and many vineyard owners sell their grapes to various vintners.
Most of the people who actually buy land in Napa Valley today are successful businessmen, Hollywood stars, retired professional athletes and so forth, who have made their millions in other fields and are now investing in their hobby or their preferred lifestyle.
Napa Valley has earned its exalted reputation through the quality of its finest wines produced during the last 35 years. The famous 1976 competition in Paris, pitting California wines against the best of Bordeaux, broadcast Napa Valley’s potential to the world, and a similar tasting last year reinforced Napa Valley’s reputation.
Geographically, Napa Valley is blessed. Sheltered by the Mayacamas Mountains to the west and the Vaca Mountains to the east, with warm days but little rain in the summer, cool nights, and cooling fog and breeze from the San Pablo Bay in the south, Napa Valley enjoys a climate that is favorable almost every year.
A huge variety of soils—including sandstone and shale of volcanic origin and marine sediments—and lots of well-drained hillsides add up to a paradise for winemaking. Of the 33 main soil types in the world, 29 of them exist within Napa Valley.
Napa Valley may be suitable for many types of grapes, but one varietal truly excels there: Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, only Napa Valley’s Cabernet Sauvignon wines and Cabernet blends have achieved world-class status. Indeed, Napa Valley Cabernet, along with Bordeaux, is regarded as one of the world’s finest examples of this variety.
WINE OF THE WEEK 2004 Beaulieu Vineyard, Georges de Latour Private Reserve, Napa Valley A Frenchman, Georges de Latour, founded Beaulieu Vineyard in the Rutherford section of Napa Valley in 1900. When the winery began its Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon in 1936, with its legendary California winemaker Andre Tchelitscheff, the wine was named after the founder. Through the years, Georges de Latour Private Reserves, such as the 1951, 1968 and 1974, have been among the finest wines we’ve ever tasted. The 2004 BV Private Reserve shows promise of greatness and age-worthiness as well. It has an inky color, with aromas of mint and earthiness. Compact and dense with lots of concentrated fruit, it’s a thoroughbred Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Wholesale price per case of 6, $403
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Merlot do well in the coolest part of Napa Valley, the Carneros region in the south, closest to San Pablo Bay. Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and other varieties make good wines in various pockets of Napa Valley, but most of these other varietal wines do as well or better in Sonoma and other cooler areas in California. Cabernet Sauvignon is king in Napa Valley—whether it be in Rutherford, Oakville or Yountville, or on the hillsides surrounding these districts, in places such as Spring Mountain or Howell Mountain.
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons are generally powerful and full-bodied, although a few wineries do make a more elegant, medium- to full-bodied Cabernet. Alcohol levels, with the typically warm climate, usually range from 14 percent to 15 percent. The wines are invariably very dark-colored and tannic, although the tannins are soft enough that one can drink the wines when they are young. Cabernet Sauvignon wines exhibit aromas and flavors of black currants and cassis. The wines are usually blended with small amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Petite Verdot, to add complexity and accessibility to the wine.
Most Napa Valley wineries have been around for 30 years or less, and so to some extent the jury is still out on how well the wines age. But judging by some older Cabernet Sauvignons that we’ve tasted from Beaulieu Vineyard, Inglenook, Mayacamas and Robert Mondavi, we’d say that many Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons will still be drinking well at 30 or more years of age, especially in cooler vintages such as 1991 and 2005.