Napa Valley Wine

by Maggie Bernat Smith

Napa Valley is Napa Valley is Napa Valley. Unfortunately this is what the general consensus is when talking about the wines that come from here. But that is wrong and is comparable to saying that Chicago is the same wherever you go in this great city. Napa Valley is divided into 15 sub AVA’s (equivalent to neighborhoods in Chicago) with each “neighborhood” having its own personality, style, depth, longevity, and price tag. They range in prices from thousands of dollars to the low teens. So what is the difference between them? Take the fish they serve at Laurent Gras’ L20 compared to a fish fry at the local American Legion. Laurent buys and prepares fish that inspires and overwhelms people and changes the way they think about such a simple creature. The American Legion will buy the cheapest most basic fish that is edible and serves it in masses to the community; there is a price tag associated with each experience.

This is the same concept that goes along with Napa Cabs, Merlot, Pinot Noir and all wine that we consume. Take for instance the rugged terrain of the hillside or mountain fruit that comes with those higher price tags. There is limited space to plant vineyards up there, it’s more difficult to farm, these vineyards are generally hand picked and cared for because you can’t use machinery up there, you don’t get as many grapes per vine as you do in the valley so your production is lowered; however the grapes that you do get, and the wines that are produced from them, are the most tannic, structured, intense, concentrated, flavorful, has the longest ageing potential and arguably the best wines in the valley and therefore are priced higher.

If you buy one of these wines they are meant to be aged typically about 10 years before consumption. This lets those big tannins soften, flavors will develop and become more complex. It’s the equivalent to picking a flower before it has bloomed to enjoy it. Now if you want to enjoy your investment right away then buy a decanter and let it breathe for a couple of hours before consuming (just opening the bottle and letting it sit does nothing contrary to popular belief). The wine has to get out of that bottle and let oxygen hit most of it, that is why decanters have such large bases on them, its so the majority of the wine sees oxygen. This speeds up the ageing process and will show much more flavor then just pouring it into your glass, consuming it and wondering why you just paid all that money for this wine.

The reason that there are 15 sub AVA’s within the Napa Valley is that there had to be a proven difference between each area and that it will express itself in the wine (it’s what the French refer to as terroir). There is a flavor difference between a wine labeled Rutherford and one labeled Oakville. It’s up to us wine professionals to taste thousands of wines a year to really observe these differences and to pick up these flavors no matter how subtle and figure out the best value and which wine represents that region well (it’s a rough job). Since you probably don’ want to memorize each flavor and style profile each region or winery has just go into the smaller more boutiquey wine shops that are hands on, know their wine, and can advise you on the differences and pick out a special wine for whatever price and mood you may be in that day.