Napa Valley

Napa Valley is California's most famous wine region, north of San Francisco, and the benchmark for New World Cabernet Sauvignon. Expect full-bodied, ripe, generously oaked reds tasting of blackcurrant, black cherry, vanilla and cocoa.

Where Napa is

Napa Valley is a narrow strip roughly thirty miles long, hemmed in by the Mayacamas range to the west and the Vaca range to the east. Despite its warm-climate reputation, it is heavily moderated by cool air and fog drawn up from San Pablo Bay at the southern end.

That fog is the key. It cools the southern end of the valley significantly, and it burns off progressively later as you move north. The result is a strong temperature gradient in a very small area: Carneros and Coombsville in the south are genuinely cool, suiting Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, while Calistoga and St Helena in the north are hot enough to ripen Cabernet fully.

Hillside sites — Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, Mount Veeder, Diamond Mountain — sit above the fog line, with poorer soils, smaller berries and firmer, more structured wines. Valley-floor appellations such as Oakville, Rutherford and Stags Leap District produce the plusher, more opulent style Napa is known for.

The grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon is the reason Napa is famous. Here it ripens far more fully than in Bordeaux, giving a wine with:

• Full body and high but ripe, rounded tannin.
• Concentrated blackcurrant, black cherry and blackberry fruit.
• Notes of vanilla, mocha, cedar and sweet spice from generous new French oak.
• Higher alcohol than its Bordeaux counterpart, often 14.5% or above.
• Softer acidity, which makes it approachable young despite the tannin.

Also important:

• Merlot — softer and plummy, both blended and bottled alone.
• Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot — blending components.
• Chardonnay — in a ripe, tropical, often oaked and buttery style, especially from Carneros.
• Sauvignon Blanc — riper and rounder than Marlborough or the Loire, sometimes oaked as "Fumé Blanc".
• Zinfandel — brambly, jammy, high in alcohol.

Reading the label

American labelling is more literal than European. The grape variety is stated on the front, and an appellation on a US label requires a set minimum proportion of fruit from that place. A wine labelled with a specific sub-appellation such as Oakville is a narrower and usually more expensive claim than one labelled Napa Valley.

Meritage is the American term for a Bordeaux-style blend, used when no single grape reaches the minimum required to be named.

What it tastes like

The house style is ripeness and generosity. Where Bordeaux is savoury, structured and often austere young, Napa Cabernet is fruit-forward, plush and immediately pleasurable, with the tannin present but polished.

Good examples still age well — fifteen to twenty years for serious bottlings — developing cedar, tobacco and dried-fruit complexity.

Food pairings

• Grilled ribeye or steak — the natural partner; fat and char against ripe tannin.
• Burgers and barbecue — the sweet oak character suits smoke and sauce.
• Braised short ribs.
• Aged cheddar and hard cheeses.
• Dark chocolate — one of the few reds ripe enough to manage it.

The wine's weight and alcohol overwhelm delicate dishes; cook robustly.

What to buy

Napa is expensive, and prices at the top have long since detached from what most people will pay for a bottle of wine. Value is genuinely hard to find within the valley itself.

The practical alternatives: Sonoma County next door offers similar quality at lower prices with more stylistic variety; Paso Robles and Washington State's Columbia Valley both produce excellent Cabernet for considerably less. Within Napa, second labels from established estates are the sensible entry point.

Serve at 16 to 18°C in a large glass. Young hillside Cabernet benefits from an hour's decanting.