Top drops from Napa Valley’s mountain wineries: challenging to make but worth it
- The mountains between California’s Mayacamas and Vaca ranges are home to some small vineyards, which produce complex, coveted wines
Wines from California’s Napa Valley have a distinct style when made from grapes also used in Bordeaux, France – cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot – especially if they are produced in the mountains, specifically the peaks between the Mayacamas and Vaca ranges.
Vines on mountains grow slowly, producing small grapes with a wild earthiness that shows forest and rock, concentrated black and red fruits, and tight tannins. As the vineyards are too small and steep for machinery, the grapes must be harvested by hand.
Howell Mountain, in the Vaca range, is home to vineyards surrounded by pine forests, at 425 to 750 metres above sea level. In 1983, it was one of the first mountains to become an American Viticultural Area appellation.
Founded in 1898 by Frederick Hess, La Jota is one of Howell’s oldest vineyards. Having become a ghost vineyard after prohibition dried up the premium-wine market, it was brought back to life in the 1970s by retired oilman Bill Smith. Today, it is owned by the Jackson family (of Kendall-Jackson, one of the biggest names in California wine), who continue Hess’ vision by making small lots of wines, picked and vinified separately from the various plots that dot the estate.
Atlas Peak is home to about 600 hectares of vineyard scattered across the western slopes of the Vaca range. It is a rugged mountain with steep slopes and a rocky volcanic soil that has an affinity for cabernet sauvignon. The Pahlmeyer winery is on the ridge of Atlas Peak, at an altitude of 670 metres. The winery eschews the use of chemicals, and the produce of its varying plots are blended to form the signature estate wine.
Diamond Mountain, in the Mayacamas range, has 200 hectares under vine spread across 2,000 rocky hectares from elevations of 120 to 670 metres. At Davies Vineyards, the Schram family, which owns Schramsberg (known for its sparkling wines), has decided that Diamond Mountain is suited to Bordeaux grapes, after climate changeaffected the chardonnay and pinot noir they had originally planted there.
Spring Mountain has about 400 hectares under vine over a 3,500-hectare area in the Mayacamas range. The first record of vines being grown on Spring Mountain dates from 1880. In the mid-1970s, the Keenan family took over a defunct vineyard that had closed during prohibition. Today, the Keenan winery produces outstanding merlots that are supple and warm, with plummy black fruit. It has a proprietary blend called “mernet”, made of 50 per cent each of merlot from its Upper Bowl vineyard and cabernet sauvignon from its Big K vineyard.
Mount Veeder has fewer than 400 hectares under vine. Yields are low, with a harvest that can extend into early November due to the cool climate. The wines are distinctive in their inky-purple appearance and have concentrated flavours with high acidity. Established in 1889, Mayacamas Vineyards is one of the mountain’s oldest producers. Although the estate totals 190 hectares, only 50 are planted, at an elevation of 550 to 730 metres.
Renowned Napa Valley winemaker Chris Carpenter, meanwhile,makes three very different wines, blending just before bottling so that the individual lots have as much time as possible to evolve: Cardinale, which is mostly cabernet sauvignon with a bit of merlot; Lokoya, completely natural and bottled unfined and unfiltered; and Mt Brave, which, with its particularly labour-intensive harvesting (grapes must be hand-picked and carried to the nearest road), is his most challenging wine to make.
