Mt. Veeder, in the Mayacamas range of western Napa Valley, is one of the smallest wine regions in the world. The cabernet, chardonnay and zinfandel wines it yields are among the world’s most substantial. Yet, although its reputation among locals goes back 140 years, most tourists traveling the valley floor 2,000 feet below would never think to visit. Not only do they miss the wines, but they also give up views of fabulously clear skies and vine-draped mountainsides.
One the reasons for the popularity of the Napa Valley among wine lovers (other than the wines themselves) is the ease with which they can get around. The main artery from Napa city to Calistoga is California Highway 29, along which lies the vast majority of the county’s several hundred wineries.
To get to Mt. Veeder you have to put your car in second gear and climb 1,500 to 2,400 feet above Highway 29. This elevation is the key to the character of Mt. Veeder’s wines. First, there are the colder daytime temperatures than on the valley floor. This provides more acidity in grapes in addition to allowing for slower, more even ripening. Second, the vineyards are above the fog-line, providing unobstructed access to the sun’s energy. Third, the soils of hillside and mountain vineyards are not especially fertile, and they don’t hold onto rainwater. Another benefit to a slope is that cold air with frost potential also runs off and doesn’t form vine-or grape-damaging pockets as it does on the floor.
And although a valley floor grower would cry if he didn’t achieve 3 to 6 tons of grapes per acre, 1 to 3 tons is more common in hillside vineyards, and half-ton yields are not unusual. What this gives to the grapes–and wines–is a concentration not normally experienced elsewhere.
The Mt. Veeder place name (or “viticultural area,” as U.S. law calls it) comprises almost 1,000 acres. We’d all like to have 1,000 acres of this kind of land at the going rate of $250,000 to $325,000 per acre (compared with $30,000 for the valley floor). But 1,000 acres is only 1/37th of the whole Napa Valley. So land prices, combined with low yields and the expense of working mountain vineyards, add up to relatively high bottle prices.
More than three quarters of the area is planted to red grapes. “The soils are well-suited for reds, as they are not as productive” as other soils, says Glen Meadowcroft, a vineyard manager for Buckland Management. Cabernet sauvignon alone makes up almost 60 of the plantings.
Charles Thomas, a Kendall-Jackson winemaker who once was also winemaker for Robert Mondavi, thinks Mt. Veeder is the “best place in the world for cabernet.”
For many, the archetype for Mt. Veeder cabernet is Mayacamas’ version. One of the oldest on the mountain, this winery’s yields are tiny (0.5 to 1.5 tons per acre) and its methods are traditional, some would say old-fashioned: in-ground, painted brick fermenters and plywood vats. Owner Bob Travers also keeps his wine aging longer than most: Two years in large oak vats and then another in small French oak barrels before release. Once put on the market, they are so dense and concentrated that it’s best to wait another 10 years before even looking at them coyly (1994 is the current release: $45). His chardonnay, too, is notoriously long-lived (the 1997 costs $40).
Hess Collection is the largest producer on the mount, with about a third of the acreage. Donald Hess, Swiss businessman and art collector (hence the name), purchased land there almost 15 years ago and the estate includes the old Christian Brothers’ “Mont La Salle” property.
The antithesis to Mayacamas in production, handling and storage, Hess nevertheless makes dense and age-worthy cabernets (the 1996 is $30). But these are easier to drink a lot earlier. The chardonnays are not the typical fruit-cocktail California version but have more of what the French call “gras,” or fat, a richness that comes with concentration (the 1997 is $20). These are extremely good wines for their prices.
Lore (pronounced LOR-ee) Olds is a dichotomy. He is an artist: His spare cabin is packed with his paintings. He is also a man of the land, eschewing electricity and sleeping in a tent next to his cabin as much as he can. He grows the grapes and makes the wine at his very small (14 acres) Sky Vineyards and is the odd man out on the mountain, turning out nothing but zinfandel. (He is dabbling in syrah and viognier, though.)
His vineyards are inaccessible to standard vehicles, and his facilities make Mayacamas look futuristic. And his wines are definitely not puppy-dog soft. They have a density and an underlying rustic quality that probably helps them age better than most zinfandels. (He cracked an ’89 that reminded me of a light but good old-fashioned Burgundy). As I left, this artistic mountain man couldn’t wait to get his tent up.
Chateau Potelle has a 60-acre property, at the far north end of the area, that once was owned by ex-Chicagoan Ham Vose. Much of what is sold at the winery comes from vineyards outside the property, but they make a line of wines labeled “VGS” that are from Mt. Veeder fruit.
As might be expected from this French-owned property, the wines lean to the leaner style. The VGS chardonnay, for instance, had that “gras” mentioned before but on a tarter base (the 1996 is $42). The VGS cabernet sauvignon is similar in the lean, restrained sense but its roots show, dense and complex.
Several other wineries have vineyards on Mt. Veeder: the Mt. Veeder Winery itself, Rubissow-Sargent, Robert Craig, Godspeed, Random Ridge and Wing Canyon.
Cuvaison recently purchased 40 acres, overwhelmingly cabernet. Bucking the red trend, Domaine Chandon has 100 acres of chardonnay and pinot blanc up here: Its deep-as-a-well 1995 blancs de blancs sparkling wine is pure Mt. Veeder fruit, unlike the firm’s other, lighter sparklers made of grapes from the Carneros district.
Peter Franus’ Brandlin zinfandel is from Mt. Veeder and is as powerful as you would expect but in an astonishingly elegant package (the ’96 is $25). The Paras Ranch is the source of really tasty syrah and viognier grapes that go into Jade Mountain’s wines.
Lastly, Kendall-Jackson’s Cardinale is a blend that winemaker Thomas says is 25 percent to 30 percent Mt. Veeder fruit. Another Kendall-Jackson label, Lokoya, offers four cabernet wines from different vineyards, including one from an 80-acre Mt. Veeder estate. The 1997 is $100 a bottle and while this is a stunning, some would say unrealistic, price, my notes read “super Medoc,” alluding to that Bordeaux district’s similarly fine and high-priced products.
