Napa’s Mountain Wines: Concentrated Flavors and the Height of Freshness

Many of Napa Valley’s most talked about and highest-scoring wines come from the valley floor, grown in vineyards at low elevation on relatively flat land. But not all of Napa’s top wines are lowlanders.

It’s another world in Napa Valley’s five mountain districts. Historic wine-growing sites perch on many different ridges and shelves in the mountains flanking the valley proper. These range from 400 feet elevation to about 2,200 feet (122 to 670 meters) and make distinctive, firmly textured cabernet sauvignon and other types.

This report focuses on 30 recently tasted, high-scoring red wines from the five American Viticultural Appellations within Napa County that are defined by their higher elevations. Known as nested AVAs, they are Mount Veeder, Spring Mountain, Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain and Atlas Peak.

From these sites we have culled time-tested classics like Smith-Madrone, Keenan and Dunn as well as newer names such as Hesperian, Fe and Alta Nova.

It’s interesting that few of the rare, cult-status, collectible cabernet producers operate with mountain fruit, yet all the wines detailed below are exciting, structured, and practically guaranteed to age well. At the same time they are more refined and fresher than ever before because of better viticulture and winemaking practices.

Our tasting notes below are rife with language like: “This is a lovely, perfumed and herbal cabernet with grace and purity” and “the palate is silken and ultra refined with no hard edges.”

The major difference between valley wines and mountain wines in Napa Valley is the quantity and quality of tannins.

In almost every case, a mountain-grown cabernet sauvignon or Bordeaux-style red blend will offer tighter, firmer, technically more astringent tannins than one grown in Rutherford Bench or Oakville, where the elevation is mostly around 150 to 200 feet. Remember that Napa Valley drains into the sea-level San Pablo Bay.

Winemakers say the difference is twofold. The microclimate changes at higher elevations, and the texture and fertility of the soil do, too. Mountain vineyards experience lower daytime maximum temperatures and higher nighttime lows. So, more moderate heat.

Hills and ridges get less morning fog in the summer and more freezing winter temperatures – with occasional snow – that help the vines go fully dormant. Mountain vines begin bud burst later than valley vines and ripen later – often four to six weeks later during cool fall weather instead of in the typical early September heatwaves.

READ MORE A NEW LIGHT IN NAPA: THE QUIET ASCENT OF WHITE WINES

The soil, or lack of it, on the mountains is possibly a bigger factor in creating the concentrated flavors and firm tannins we love in these wines. Almost by definition, the soil is rockier, fast-draining and lower in organic matter, so grapevines are naturally stressed. They don’t produce large crops – perhaps two tons to the acre average versus four or more in the valley.

Mountain soil is typically more volcanic in origin rather than sedimentary as on the valley floor. We believe the volcanic composition comes through in the wine as more mineral, iron-like or “ferric,” often with a vivid tanginess to match the tannins.

“There’s mountain character to this wine, with aromas of black fruit, graphite, volcanic earth,” reads one note, while another says, “The palate is full-bodied, taut and tense, with bright acidity, fine-grained tannins.”

Stress from the low-nutrient soil means smaller shoots on the vines and smaller grape berries with thicker skins in loose clusters. Since the skins are where the color, tannins and most of the flavor comes from, this amps up all three.

Serious wine drinkers – and especially the winemaker themselves – can feel the difference in tannins easily, even distinguishing the character of tannins from one mountain versus another.

We chose the tasting notes below to help you find and enjoy some mountain magic. They include some of the highest-scoring recent notes, but there are many more to choose from in our search window.

– Jim Gordon, Editor-at-Large

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. You can sort the wines by winery name, vintage and score. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.