Come to Napa- for Central Valley Blends?

Producers based in the region sold about 80 million cases of wine last year, but the North Coast grape supply only supports production of roughly 22 million cases. So that reflects that larger wineries are producing brands made from grapes and wine from other parts of the state.

I’m frankly supersized by this figure. Maybe 4x the wine sold from the North Coast is grown elsewhere. I think here in Napa they have a county ordinance that stipulates at least 1/2 of the wine you make has to be from Napa. I’m sure it doesn’t apply to legacy wineries. Maybe it’s just a reflection that we know how to make good wine and the tourists all come here? Still figuring out how I feel about this.

Interesting. Why would there be a requirement on how much wine was produced from Napa fruit? Isn’t that issue already resolved by AVA labeling rules?

I can see an argument for “protecting the Napa brand” but figure it’s probably something the Napa Valley Grapegrowers pushed through!

Not sure why this is so surprising. More than 1/2 the fruit grown in Santa Barbara County, for instance, gets shipped outside the County for production in any given year - and 2020 might have seen an even bigger increase since our fruit was not affected by smoke taint for the most part.

Might some of it end up in ‘Napa County’ blends? Sure - you are legally allowed to blend in X % of non-county fruit to a geographic AVA. Not the case with more specific AVAs of course.

Cheers

1 Like

It’s no secret at all that up to X% of any given high end Napa cab likely contains cheaper Solano, Lodi and Contra Costa fruit. It’s been going on for decades.

1 Like

Any? Whoah Nellie. hitsfan

I exaggerate, of course. Any, as in “any given”. I wasn’t being literal.

But growers I work with and know personally in both Lodi and CC sell and have sold fruit to Napa wineries. Lodi Cabernet’s are maybe $1000-1500/ton and Napa ones can hit $20K/ton or even more. It’s inevitable. Or maybe I just happened to bump into the only two growers in the wine world that has sold to Napa wineries and it’s a complete anomaly… [wink.gif]

Thanks, Brian. While I generally enjoy Adam’s posts, he is way off track here. I guess my Black Cats would be considered high end, and I can absolutely assure you that there has never been any fruit other than from my vineyard in my wines. I am in the Calistoga AVA, but only use Napa Valley as the AVA on my bottles.

Mendocino has been the ‘25% out of county blender’ for decades. Not sure of the percentage but would guess 75% of our fruit is never bottled as Mendo.

Same here in lake county (north of Napa). Sauv blanc and red mountains stand alone or are north coast

Hey Larry,
At least here in California, I rarely see “Napa County” on the label (much more common to see “Napa Valley”, which requires higher % of grapes from Napa). You’re correct that these “Napa County” wines could allow up to 25% of non-Napa wines. Should one follow your argument, even if all wines made in Napa were labeled this way, only 1/4 of the fruit should be from out of County. The numbers I quoted are flipped, only 1/4 of the fruit processed here is from Napa. Your argument falls apart. No, I think this is because wineries are making blends without the “Napa County” or “Napa Valley” appellation.

Thanks, Brian. While I generally enjoy Adam’s posts, he is way off track here. I guess my Black Cats would be considered high end, and I can absolutely assure you that there has never been any fruit other than from my vineyard in my wines. I am in the Calistoga AVA, but only use Napa Valley as the AVA on my bottles.

Greetings Merrill,
Why wouldn’t you use the Calistoga AVA? I’m finding many producers with just “Napa Valley” are sourcing a lot of their base from Pope Valley (which, IMHO, should not be allowed in “Napa Valley” branded wines…).

I’d have to assume that these grapes are being sourced for California/North Coast appellation blends that larger wineries produce to serve the broad market or chains. I doubt these grapes are working their way into Napa-appellated wines in any worrisome amounts, but who knows.

I’m curious to hear Merrill’s reasoning for going with Napa AVA over Calistoga, but as someone who’s sold a lot of Napa wine, Calistoga, Oak Knoll, Carneros and Mt. Veeder in particular carry a lesser premium reputation among consumers of Bordeaux varietals. Obviously they have region-specific character, but I think the average consumer might be more swayed by Napa AVA than those sub-AVA designates. Until recently, I think Coombsville might have also fit this criteria, but now is it picking up a bit of prestige.

You’ve pretty much stated my reasoning for electing to use Napa Valley rather than Calistoga. Napa Valley has worldwide recognition. I recently sent Xmas gifts for a friend, and they were not going to wine berserker types. But for sure they knew what Napa Valley was - the recognition goes far and wide.

1 Like

And Merrill’s logic is why many choose to bottle down here using SB County vs. Los Olivos District, for example. Or why many wineries choose to use Paso Robles instead of most of the 13 sub AVA’s up there. Marketing and perception.

Cheers.

It’s funny how we differ, which is why wine business is so cool - there’s room for all sorts of philosophies. I’d almost go out of my way to make sure I’d use the lesser known AVA than the county. I’d personally much rather have it say York Mountain than Paso Robles - one comes with a lot of preconception an the other one is just a blank slate.

With Napa and Sonoma, perhaps there’s a stronger case for staying wide. But for Lodi, it’s absolutely the opposite. Would you rather buy a Zinfandel from Clemens Hills or Lodi? Clemens Hills comes with no baggage.

Conjunctive labeling requirements in Napa County compels wines marked with any sub AVA to also include “Napa Valley” next to the AVA name. I don’t see a conflict with consumers seeing Calistoga on the bottle.

I’ve heard this from other sources- “Coombsville” is hip now. Do you think that’s an increase in quality due warming taking place or because new folks are moving in (aka Paul Hobbs)?

I think there’s quite a lot of high-end talent focusing on Coombsville now. Favia/Erickson, Hobbs, Julien Fayard to name a few. I can only speculate since I don’t produce any wine from there.

1 Like

Conjunctive labeling is a great idea. I know that Monterey and Sonoma counties also have this. I really hope Santa Barbara County moves in this direction at some point in the near future.

Cheers.

Paso Robles and Lodi require conjunctive labeling as well.