Why We Only Sell California Wines...
We have always been passionate about wine and how it has evolved since very early in the development of mankind. And we are especially passionate about the excellent wines of California. California wine makers since the early 1980's have been emerging as producers of some of the finest wines in the world rivaling any other known wine region. California currently has over 1,000 wineries and there are over 300 of them in the Napa Valley alone. More are on the way. We have made a conscious business decision to offer only wines that come from some part of Californiia. Other countries like France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, etc. make excellent wines. But it is our policy to patronize and support the boutique winemakers of Califoirnia who are exhibiting the same passion about making California wines as we are about drinking their wines. We have chosen to support them with our dollars versus sending our monies out of the country.
We will now like to give you a little history lesson on California wines and hopefully you will join us either in our wine bar or online to order some of those wonderful wines that California has to offer.
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA WINES...
Wine has been with us since the beginning of civilization. There are more than 1000 wineries in California - over 300 of them are in Napa Valley. The first
European grape varietals were brought
to California
around 1830. The discovery of gold and subsequent influx of people and
money to the State led to a rapidly growing wine industry. The
development was aided greatly by the efforts of an intrepid soul named Agoston
Haraszthy de Mokesa, A Hungarian political exile with a colorful history.
Haraszthy purchased 560 acres of land near the town of Sonoma in an area known as the Valley of the
Moon. There he built a winery named Buena Vista and within a few years
had almost single-handedly built California’s
reputation as a reliable producer of good wine, winning a number of awards
along the way.
Haraszthy
expanded his vineyard to 6,000 acres and with it the reputation of the entire
North Coast wine region-stealing the focus away from Southern
California which at that time was the key area of
production. The course of the California
wine industry was changed forever.
In the mid 1960s,
a handful of pioneer souls led by Robert Mondavi began concentrating
on making quality wine that brought increasing attention to the wines of
the Napa Valley. The early 1970s saw a lot
of experimentation as producers strove towards ever-higher quality. By
the latter part of that decade, the reputation of the North Coast
had begun to soar, aided by the now-famous results of the 1976 Paris Tasting,
at which Warren Winarski's Stags Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet and Mike Grigich's
Chateau Montelana Chardonnay beat out a number of top French wines.
The 1980's
saw a tendency to over-oak and over-manipulate, with acidification being the
easy way to balance out the tendency of Mother Nature to produce fruit that ripens
easily and quickly.
The 1990s saw
the rise of a number of smaller producers who, in realizing that the
balance can only really be achieved in the vineyard, focused on limited
production and high quality.
Today, California wines cover a
wide spectrum - from high volume production and heavily marketed brands to
small individual producers. California and the
Napa Valley
(not Nappa Valley
or Napper Valley), in particular, has much to
offer the genuine wine enthusiast.
The Napa Valley,
an hour's drive north of San Francisco, is
considered by many to be California's,
and perhaps the world's, leading wine area. There are over 300 wineries crowded
into a valley about thirty miles long and just a few miles across. Many of
these wineries are open to the public for wine tasting and vineyard tours. Some
also offer accommodation, fine dining, art exhibitions and music.
The Napa Valley
is famous for its red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the
best of which compete seriously with Bordeaux.
However, most of the classic red and white grape varieties are grown in the
area. An increasing amount of high quality sparkling wine is also being
produced.
Located next
to the Napa Valley
are the Sonoma County wineries and wines.
The Sonoma Valley
is nestled between coastal mountain ranges, and is a prime grape growing region
that includes three distinct appellations; it offers a rare blend of nature,
agriculture and the artistry of winemaking. Sonoma
County is divided into several
different areas such as Sonoma
County North, Russian River/West County, Sonoma County Central, Sonoma Coast
and Sonoma Valley.
Other areas
of fine wine making in California are the Dry
Creek area, Santa Cruz, Mendocino
County, Monterey
County, Lake
County, Lodi,
Livermore, Alexander
Valley, the Pacific
Coast, San Luis
Obispo, Paso Robles, and Santa
Barbara with Temecula in the South also producing some
good wines.
These areas
are where we focus the selection of our wines which we offer in our wine
bar location and boutique wine shop.
THE
APPELLATION SYSTEM FOR CALIFORNIA
WINES...
In 1978 the
Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF)
introduced the idea of specifically controlled appellations based upon
geography and climate. These fall under the heading of
APPROVED
VITICULTURAL AREAS or AVA's.
There are no
AVA rules governing varities grown, methods of vine training, yields, or styles
of wine production. What the AVA's do guarantee is origin and
content.
The largest
designated area is a state. When mentioned on the label, it denotes that
at least 75% of the grapes must come from that state. The same holds true
for county appellation, which comes next. For a label to carry a county
appellation, 85% of the grapes must come from the named AVA. The smallest
designation is reserved for single vineyard where 95% of the grapes must come
from the named vineyard.
A wine must
be made with a minimum of 75% of the grape named on the label. If a
vintage is stated 95% of the grapes must come from the vintage.
Federal
regulations require table wines to state their alcohol content by volume on the
label within 1.5% of what it actually is. At alcohol levels over 14% the stated
content must be within 1%.
VITICULTURE
AND WINEMAKING IN CALIFORNIA...
Soil is
generally fertile and suitable for wine production. There are great
variations in California; however, in Napa alone there are at
least 10 different soil types. Much more attention is now being paid to
matching varieties to soil type, a concept virtually ignored in the 1970s and
80s. Most vineyards in California
are planted on flat valley floors, this makes mechanization, irrigation and
frost protection systems easy to implement. Smaller wineries, in
particular, have taken to planting vineyards on classic hillside slopes where
soils are thinner, yields are lower and mechanization is difficult to
impossible. The resulting wines are usually worth the trouble.
A complete
revamping of viticultural practices is underway since the return of Phylloxera
in the late 1980's. A new biotype of the rootiouse, called Biotype B,
attacked the vines that were grafted onto a rootstock called AXRI that was
developed at UC Davis and widely planted in the 1960s and 70s. The
infestation was mainly confined to Napa and Sonoma County
and a gradual replanting program has been underway since. This is
enabling growers and wineries to review their growing methods and perhaps
determine if varietals that are more appropriate should be planted. The
norm has also been to plant low density, with wide rows for
mechanization. The trend, recently, has been to closer plantings and
tighter spacing. Another recent problem has been the spread of Pierce's
disease carried by leafhoppers and sharpshooters.
The
winemaking theme is generally ultra-modern, with stainless steel tanks and
large barrel rooms filled with both French and American oak barrels.
Experimentation and change is welcome. Acidification (the addition of
natural acids like tartaric. malic and citric to wines that are too low in
acid) is wide spread. Chaptalisation (adding sugar to the mixture of
grape juice and grape solids (must) at the initial crushing) is illegal and
unnecessary.
All said California is constantly
improving on the quality and productivity of their grapes.
We also invite you to go to our links page to take a virtual tour of the
California Wine Country
"God made only water, but man made
wine".
Victor Hugo
