Napa Valley was once planted with every grape varietal one could think of – hundreds. But a hundred years later, the appellation has refined itself down to nearly a single varietal, cabernet sauvignon. That’s a slight exaggeration, but it’s not too far afield to say that Napa Valley has established itself as California’s preeminent cabernet producer and wine country tours in Napa could just as easily refer to their trips as cabernet country tours.
While hundreds of varietal sprigs were brought over from Europe to be planted in the area that we now call northern California’s wine country, success stories amongst those began to emerge and vineyard owners spoke amongst the community. As education establishments took root in the area, agricultural research came into play and the environmental conditions were studied and aligned with those varietals best suited to the area’s microclimate.
The grape’s characteristics set it up wonderfully to be at home in the region: it welcomes the moderate temperatures, it buds late which helps it avoid the possible damage from spring frosts, and it ripens late, which works well with the long growing season ensuring that it has become fully ripe before the fall harvest. Evidence abounds that the grape is well suited to the area, as the fruits of the labors from Napa Valley prove to be world-class and many of the most coveted cabernet sauvignon wines originate here, only one hundred years since beginning and stand up to comparison with the centuries old vineyards of Europe.
