Certainly the United States’ most beloved wine region, the Napa Valley also has the honor of being considered among the world’s greatest. Its near perfect combination of Mediterranean climate, geography and diversity of soil types has allowed it to grow premium grapes for over a century. Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay do especially well here, and have become somewhat emblematic of the region as it has moved into this worldwide top echelon of wine producing regions. But there are also plenty of other grapes that love the terroir here, and from the old-school traditional to the renegade, there is also a whole range of winemaking styles to keep any wine lover happy.
THE TERROIR
THE WINEMAKING
We partner with true cult classic producer Hourglass Wines, a project born out of a St. Helena Zinfandel vineyard planted by current owner Jeff Smith’s father back in the late 1970s. Jeff gave up the indie rock band life in order to realize his late father’s dream, replanting the vineyard to a single clone of Cabernet Sauvignon and naming it the Hourglass Estate. They later acquired the Blueline Estate in Calistoga and planted it to all five original Bordeaux varietals, and built their highly unconventional “nature-inspired” winery. Since then Jeff and highly lauded winemaker Tony Biagi have been dedicated to crafting top Napa wines from these historic varietals.
CULTURE
When not making wine, we enjoy a gourmet vineyard picnic lunch of local specialties, while sipping elegant Schramsberg sparkling wines; we have a sunset aperitivo with a gorgeous view of the Valley on the deck of the luxurious Auberge de Soleil hotel; we are treated to a gourmand’s dream tour of the Oxbow Public Market, led by a local chef; and we feast under the stars accompanied by a library collection of some of the Napa Valley’s original pioneering wineries as well as its greatest cult classics.
