We return to our “Wine in 5” series with… Napa Valley!
How did this region begin producing world-famous wines in only 60 years? (After all, it took Bordeaux hundreds of years to develop their signature wines)… How can Napa provide such a wide variety of styles? And where should you look for your preferred flavor profiles?
Transcript:
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Why is the wine so good here? What makes the Napa Valley so special, in my humble opinion, is magic. But not Harry Potter’s magic. The magic of nature and the magic of wine. Let me explain. Hello and welcome to your new Bonner Private Wines video brought to you by the best wine club in America. I’m your host, Julien.
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Bordeaux trained winemaker and world wine commentator. I’ve been living deep into the wine industry for over 25 years now. And today we’re continuing our wine in five series, five chapters about all the best wine appellations in the world. We’re going through one after the other, namely, on the horizon today. Welcome to the Napa Valley, a name synonymous with, of course, world class wines.
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A relatively small region on the grand scheme of things that has earned global acclaim for its exceptional quality of wines and breathtaking beauty, in this video, we’ll take a journey through the vineyards and the wineries of Napa, exploring the rich history briefly. The grapes that thrive here, the diverse styles of wines as well that they produce, the unique character of its different subregions.
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And at the end, I want to give you my personal perspective on what’s made the Napa Valley so successful. Get ready to uncork the magic of Napa Valley.
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For the basic knowledge, what you need to know about Napa Valley: Napa Valley’s winemaking story dates back to the mid 19th century with the early pioneers like Charles Krug, or Gustav Niebaum recognizing the region’s potential and investing in planting vines here, despite all the challenges like prohibition and phylloxera, Napa persevered. The landmark judgment of Paris in 1976, where Napa wines famously were rated higher tasted blind than top chateaus of Bordeaux included by French wine critics, it catapulted the valley onto the international stage name.
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Today, Napa Valley stands as a testament to dedication, innovation and relentless pursuit of excellence in winemaking.
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Napa Valley has quite a diverse terroir, in fact, which helps and supports a range of grape varieties, but a few truly shine here. Cabernet Sauvignon, obviously, is Napa Valley star, producing those full bodied wines, intense dark fruit flavors. The black currant, which is signature Cabernet cassis, we call it in French. Big tannins, exceptional aging potential. You got chardonnay, which is celebrated here for its richness in particular, and the complexity much bigger than in Burgundy.
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But depending on the winemaking techniques and the local microclimate of each sub area of Napa, which we’ll talk about more in just a minute, Chardonnay can range from very lean and mineral wines to really opulent and buttery. Often they showcase zingy notes of citrus, but also when they’re bigger, lavish tropical fruit. Merlot has gone a bit out of fashion in Napa since the sideways movie in the early 2000.
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But it still performs exceptionally well here, including within the Bordeaux type blend that we call Bordeaux blend, including Cabernet Sauvignon. dominant. Pinot noir is primarily found in the cooler southern parts of Napa Valley near the bay, where it delivers a lot of elegance and finesse. Again, a bit bigger than in Burgundy, but delicate red fruit aromas, earthy undertones and that silky, delicious texture.
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Sauvignon Blanc is wonderful here. If you don’t know Napa Sauvignon Blanc well, try one. It’s delicious, super fragrant, crisp acidity, refreshing character, vibrant aromas of grapefruit, passion fruit. Sometimes quite grassy and herbaceous notes as well. Delicious Sauvignon blanc. So quite a variety of terroirs and grapes.
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The Napa Valley isn’t just about the grapes, it’s about diverse and captivating styles of wines, diverse again, bold and age worthy with the Cabernet Sauvignon. This is, of course, structured, powerful. They have to age, they develop further complexity over time. Just like a great fine wine, a French wine, the blends feature Cabernet Sauvignon, merlot, cab franc, petite verdot, Malbec, all from Bordeaux originally so the Bordeaux blend sometimes called here.
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Meritage also highly prized. Pinot noir provides the lighter reds, fruit driven, lighter, lighter bodied but very, very fruit friendly. You have the rich, elegant whites. The Chardonnays that we’ve talked about, they can be unoaked or barrel fermented for the bigger, fuller bodied ones. They can go under malolactic fermentation that adds creaminess and that delicious buttery character. And you have the refreshing whites as well aromatic whites, the Sauvignon blanc, unoaked as well.
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It can be very pure fragrance, to barrel aged, sometimes called fumé blanc, for added complexity and sometimes they make a little bit of rosé, but that’s quite anecdotal. So Napa Valley is not just the big reds or the Cabernet. A variety of styles.
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For us, and I also want to give you a quick, very quick overview of how diverse the different terroirs all the microclimates of Napa Valley can be with just a few words on the most acclaimed subregions, like Calistoga, which is located at the north end, it has a warmer temperature because it’s more inland and produces Cabernet Sauvignon with really bold, big tannins, ripe fruit.
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It has a volcanic soil as well that contributes to the dense structure. You have Saint Helena, which is known for warm days and cooler nights, so a sweet spot for Cabernet Sauvignon often resulting in lines with a bit more elegance and balanced tannins. Rutherford, which is the heart of the Napa Valley, is famous for what connoisseurs refer to as the Rutherford dust expression of Cabernet Sauvignon.
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So a unique, earthy, cocoa like notes. Oakville is home to many iconic winery, balanced climate ideal for producing wines with a blend of power but also finesse and aging potential. And I’ll have to pass quite quickly on many more. But you have the Stags Leap district, Oak Knoll district. The Atlas Peak, the Diamond Mountain District that each has their own characteristics and legendary wineries.
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Plus, of course you’ve got the Carneros to finish, which is at the very south by the San Pablo Bay, which is way cooler than the rest of the area, and a prime region for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in particular. So you get the point. This is a town to explore different subregions, different towns. I think there are in quite a detailed geography, with subtle nuances in the wines, not dissimilar to what you could find in Bordeaux, the with the difference between a Margaux and a Pauillac for example, which you can learn more about in those dedicated videos right here.
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Very, very interesting and detailed geography and topography.
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And so, in the end, wine enthusiasts and travelers and everyone curious about the Napa Valley has been wondering. I think, what makes this particular spot in California so extraordinary? Why is the wine so good here? What makes the Napa Valley so special, in my humble opinion, is magic. But not Harry Potter’s magic. The magic of nature and the magic of wine.
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Let me explain. When you plant a vineyard in a new spot in a new area, like it was done in the new World throughout the 20th century in particular, and in the Napa Valley in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Like the pioneers of winemaking in California did, you’re never quite sure how good the wines are going to turn out.
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It’s a bit of a, a gamble. How’s the weather locally? Is it warm enough for vines to grow? Or it might be too hot for really good wines. Which grapes are going to work well here? How’s the soil for the vines? Is it draining enough? Is it clay-ey enough? Is it sandy, you know, sandy enough, etc..
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So sometimes, only sometimes you happen to find the exact right environment where certain grapes will absorb, really thrive and deliver top, world class wine. And that’s what happened in Napa Valley. They brought, French grapes from Bordeaux, planted them, worked with them. Lots of skills. And the wines turned out to be as good, if not better than French wines.
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If you now add to this at least 50 years of experience growing vines in Napa, all the winemaking know how that local winemakers have accumulated since the 1970s at least, all the wealth also, the technicality of modern winemaking. And you obviously end up with some of the most refined wines on Earth, some of the most expensive as well, and eventually cult wines Napa basically did in 50 or 60 years, what Bordeaux did in 200 years of winemaking history, which is turning a local terroir into a magical, enchanting, expensive cult world class wines.
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Although, to be perfectly fair, what helped Napa, of course, growing so quickly is that they borrowed the grapes from France from Bordeaux, while Bordeaux had to develop those grapes from scratch, which took them probably about 100 years or more. Breeding in Cabernet Sauvignon and ending up with such a wonderful grape that works everywhere so well and so nicely in Napa Valley, was also magic done by the French in its own way.
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So all of this magic from centuries of wine tradition, we can all taste it in our glass today, including in a glass of Napa wine. That was it for me today. Here are videos about the origins of fine wine, Bordeaux wines, appellations and a couple of cold California wines that I tasted and reviewed for you on the channel, Opus One and Schaefer Vineyards.
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I’ll see you soon in the wonderful world of wine. Cheers!
