Bordeaux. Burgundy. Champagne. Chianti. Napa Valley. These are a few of the most important wine regions in the world and they produce some of the greatest wines. Each has its own distinct character, but taken together, they are the most recognizable and significant wine appellations on the planet.

But who, save for a small percentage among us – so-called rabid wine enthusiasts -- actually gives a fig about what the word “appellation” means, or how it manifests in the bottle?

As example, when I tell someone I write for a Web site called APPELLATIONAMERICA.com, there’s invariably a glazed look that comes over their eyes, and then comes the response (almost every time), “I didn’t know there were wines in Appalachia.”

The point is: Why were AVAs created in the U.S. in the first place, and after being in place several decades now, what do they really mean?

For the purposes of this appellation profile series on each of the 14 sub-AVAs in the Napa Valley – with at least three or four more on the way – the question to be answered is: Are there real differences to be experienced from each and every one?

How To Make an Appellation

According to the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) – the arbiter of appellation-designation – several things are required for a petition for AVA status. Among them are:

<>Evidence that the name of the viticultural area is locally and/or nationally known as referring to the area specified in the application;

<>Historical or current evidence that the boundaries of the viticultural area are as specified in the application;

<>Evidence relating to the geographical features (climate, soil, elevation, physical features, etc.) which distinguish the viticultural features of the proposed area from surrounding areas.

Notice there are no regulations that refer to quality or to taste distinction, although the delineations ostensibly should lead to taste and flavor differential. Which leads to the suspicion, as the more cynical among us believe, that AVAs were merely created as a figment of some marketers’ strategy, or more likely, for geo-political protections.

One of those more skeptical observers is Clark Smith, who sees wine coming through his Sonoma County plant called Vinovation, on its way to get adjustments for volatile acidity, to lower its alcohol, or to go through micro-oxygenation.

“I love the idea of exploring the distinctiveness of different appellations. However, there are a couple of problems with the American situation: There is no one in the New World that wants there to be more regulations limiting what they can do in an appellation. Until we’re willing to do that, we won’t really have an appellation system,” he believes.

“What we will have is people buying wine for all the wrong reasons. Is a Parma ham really better than any other smoked ham in the world? But people pay four times as much for a Parma ham because it’s from Parma.

“The consumer is being sold intrinsic and extrinsic quality. They’re being sold true flavor and value, and then they’re being sold hype.”

How Green, Red, White, Brown…Is My Valley

In the coming weeks, we’ll explore the diversity of each of the sub-regions – if they exist – of each of the Napa Valley’s regions; and how - or if - there are definitive taste differences. We’ll begin with the overall picture – the Napa Valley AVA itself – and work our way up-Valley.

The narrow valley that is about 30 miles long begins about an hour or so northeast of San Francisco and runs south-to-north covering approximately 150 square miles. The valley floor, only about two miles wide, sits in the middle of the Mayacamas Range of mountains to the west and Vaca Range to the east.

Mornings and nights are rendered cool from the Pacific Ocean that lies about 40 miles to the west and from fog from the San Pablo Bay (as part of the San Francisco Bay) to the immediate south. Afternoons, especially during the summer, vary from the high-80s to the low-100s in vineyards as you go up the Valley.

Soil types are derived from past volcanic activity which has deposited rocky sediment and obsidian (AKA black glass), to sandy loam from the Napa River that runs down the middle of the valley.

There are about 44,000 acres planted to mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Sauvignon Blanc. Other more prevalent varieties are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Zinfandel.

Surprisingly, while there are about 400 wineries in the valley and perhaps an equal number of other brands which don’t have brick and mortar facilities, they produce just four percent of the total wine production of California.

Nonetheless that relatively small amount of wine, mostly Cabernet, results in some of the most expensive wines in the country, a fact which lends cachet to the Napa Valley as being perceived as America’s most important wine region.

The average price of a bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is about $50 these days, and one would be hard-pressed to find a red wine from the region for less than $25. There are a growing number of trophy wines that cost $100 to as much as $250, making them some of the more expensive wines in the world.

Are they, therefore, among the best in the world? That, of course, is open to much debate. In the throes of a phenomenon that coincides with replantings in the last dozen years since the phylloxera louse destroyed about 80 percent of the valley’s vineyards, some critics believe that many of Napa Valley’s Cabernets – despite their sub-AVA origins – have a sameness of style and flavor.

The widespread practice of keeping grapes on the vine in order to gain full physiological maturation (“Hang Time”) has resulted in many wines that are high in alcohol (15-to-16 percent), which manifests in sweet, overly fruity wines that some claim are out of balance.

However, there is a hint of a trend developing that may see those wines come down in alcohol to a more reasonable percentage (14 to 14.5 percent), which could result in less heavy wines. Also, the more judicious use of oak (one is hard-pressed to find many producers now that are using 100 percent new barrels), will also help to better balance the wines, and therefore make them friendlier when paired with food.

If there really is a move in this direction, there will be a better opportunity to highlight the sub-regional differences in the wines; and therefore, allow for the possibility of terroir distinction.

Viva La Difference

As it stands now, only a few of the wines from the valley’s 14 sub-AVAs can be discerned as different. For instance, we know that Carneros Pinot Noirs exhibit differences from those Pinots from the other of the half-dozen California regions that best produce the variety. Carneros Merlots now are beginning to show cool-climate variables.

While it’s true that mountain Cabernets from the Napa Valley – from Mount Veeder, Spring Mountain, and Diamond Mountain on the west side and Atlas Peak and Howell Mountain to the east - are decidedly different from valley-floor Cabs, one would be challenged to pick out the subtle differences from the Stags Leap District, Oakville, St. Helena, or Rutherford.

The folks in the Rutherford area – about midway up the valley – were perhaps the first in the region to try and capitalize on their wines in terms of a sub-AVA. The notion of “Rutherford Dust” has been around since André Tchelistcheff – the patriarch of California wine – supposedly coined the phrase a couple of decades ago. But because of all the technological advances both in the vineyard and in the cellar, it’s difficult to discern the “dust” in Rutherford Cabs, which otherwise might be considered to be world-class.

Others have begun to try and single out their wines by placing sub-AVA designations on labels, albeit in smaller print than the “Napa Valley” stamp, which undoubtedly carries more significance.

But one has to ask: Is calling attention to a sub-region a sincere exercise to put terroir distinctiveness on display , or is it a marketing ploy that has no real significance other than to separate oneself from the fiercely competitive pack?

In the ensuing weeks, we’ll try to learn the answers and to decipher the chaff from the vine.

Photo of Rutherford slope by Michael Lasky

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Next week: The Carneros