IN VINO CARITAS The Wine Napa Valley September 17–19 Forum Excursion 2014 Contents Welcome to Welcome to The Wine Forum 1 TheWineForum Schedule 2 Napa Valley 4 Wineries Visited 12 Welcome to The Wine Forum’s 2014 Napa The Napa Valley vintners have always had Woman Winemakers Dinner 24 Valley excursion. The Wine Forum is a strong philanthropic leanings. For 30 years, Biographies 26 nonprofit organization whose members share the Napa Valley auction has donated generous three attributes: they are world leaders in their sums of money to worthy causes. On this fields; they deeply appreciate fine wines; and trip, The Wine Forum members meet the they avidly pursue philanthropic interests. originators and current organizers of the Some of our members are very knowledgeable Napa auction to join forces where appropriate. about fine wines and hold vast collections. In particular, we will hear from the Napa Most however, just enjoy wine for the sheer Valley Vintners about the new Napa Valley pleasure of sharing something special with Community Disaster Relief Fund created by friends and family. NVV with an initial $10 million gift to benefit those impacted by the 2014 Napa earthquake. The Wine Forum holds two or three exclusive events per year in the most prestigious Our special thanks extend to all the vineyard venues around the world. Napa winemakers, owners and hosts who have Valley holds some of the world’s most made this program possible. treasured wines. Nevertheless, the spirit of entrepreneurialism is very much alive, and We look forward to the next few days with you we will see that by not only meeting the and hope you enjoy them as thoroughly as we “traditional” innovators of the region but also enjoyed devising the program. by meeting the “next wave” of superstars. But — September 17, 2014 Napa is more than just the labels. In most cases, vineyards were born through hard work, sheer determination and a will to see quality find its rightful place. David Spreng Vidhi Tambiah Co-founder Co-founder The Wine Forum The Wine Forum 1 Schedule Wed | 17 Sept 6:30 PM Reception: Lucy Restaurant at Bardessono Hotel 7:00 PM Dinner: “Speed Dating” dinner with Women Winemakers from “Women’s Palate Group” at Lucy Restaurant at Bardessono Hotel Thur | 18 Sept 9:30 AM Departure to Harlan Estate and Promontory 10:00 AM Tour and tasting at Harlan Estate 12:00 PM Departure to Dana Estates 12:30 PM Dana Estates: lunch in the Rooster Barn hosted by Jae Chun with Linda Reiff (Napa Valley Vintners) and David Pearson (Opus One) 3:00 PM Departure to Dominus Estate 3:30 PM Tour and tasting at Dominus Estate 6:00 PM Departure to The Napa Valley Reserve 7:00 PM Screaming Eagle dinner with Armand de Maigret 10:30 PM Departure to hotel Fri | 19 Sept 9:30 AM Departure to Colgin Cellars 10:00 AM Tour and tasting at Colgin Cellars 11:45 AM Departure to Ovid 12:00 PM “Pritchard Hill” lunch at Ovid with Continuum, David Arthur, Chappellet, BRAND, Montagna, and Ovid 3:00 PM Departure to Culinary Institute of America, Rudd Center. Premiere Napa Valley Top 10 Tasting with Karen MacNeil 4:30 PM Departure to hotel 7:00 PM Departure to Bottega Restaurant. “Legends of Napa” dinner at Bottega 10:30 PM Return to hotel 2 3 Napa Valley (Extracted by kind permission of the Napa Valley Vintners) History and Timeline Early Napa dealt vintners a stunning blow, as much of To the Wappo Indians who first inhabited the valley’s vineyard acreage fell victim to the the valley, “Napa” meant a land of plenty. destructive root louse. Spawning salmon filled the waterways, clouds of migrating waterfowl darkened the Prohibition skies and the valley floor served as home to An even greater threat to Napa Valley’s wildcats, elk, black bear and grizzlies. Wild wine business arrived in 1920, with the grapes also grew in abundance, but it took enactment of Prohibition. Vineyards were early settlers such as George Calvert Yount to abandoned and many winemakers found recognize the valley’s potential for cultivating other trades during the next 14 years, with wine grapes. Establishing the first local a handful of wineries continuing to operate homestead in what is now Yountville in 1836, by producing sacramental wines. With the Yount was the first to plant vineyards in the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Napa Valley’s valley. Other early pioneers included John wine industry began its renaissance: a period Patchett, who planted the first commercial of recovery, then tremendous expansion and, vineyard; Dr. George Crane, who promoted finally, in recent years, refinement. the planting of grapevines through a series Napa Valley Vintners of newspaper articles; and Hamilton Walker Crabb, who experimented with more than The early 1940s marked an important point in 400 grape varieties. the Napa Valleys’ wine history, when a group of vintners came together in 1944 to share The Pioneers ideas on grape growing and winemaking Charity Present and Future Charles Krug is credited with establishing amidst a convivial atmosphere of shared A new chapter in Napa Valley’s history was Today, Napa Valley is home to approximately Napa Valley’s first commercial winery camaraderie, good food and wine. This opened in 1981, when the first Napa Valley 500 wineries and numerous more brands. Its in 1861, and by 1889 there group laid the foundation for the Napa Wine Auction was sponsored at Meadowood growers and vintners combine cutting-edge were more than 140 wineries Valley Vintners, a dynamic trade resort. Over the years, this Napa Valley science with traditional techniques, and its in operation, including organization dedicated to advancing Vintners-sponsored celebration of Napa reputation for producing world-class wines Schramsberg (founded in 1862), Napa Valley’s wines both domestically Valley wine and food has become the “world’s is firmly established in an ever-growing Beringer (1876) and Inglenook and abroad. most successful” charity wine event, drawing global market. (1879). Before long, however, the participants from around the globe. The rapid expansion of the new wine auction has given $90 million to local health industry saw prices plummet care, youth programs and affordable housing amidst a sea of surplus grapes, since 1981. and the arrival of phylloxera Charles Krug 4 5 Geography Bounded on both sides by mountains, the The vineyard environments of the Napa Valley Napa Valley stretches approximately 30 miles have evolved through geologic time. Like the in a northwesterly direction, its width ranging rest of California, Napa Valley has had a very from five miles at the widest point near the active and eventful geologic history. Many city of Napa to just a mile where the valley tectonic plates (large pieces of the earth’s narrows near the town of Calistoga. crust) have collided with North America to Napa Valley form California. As a result, there are many Bisecting the valley is the Napa River, which geological faults in the area, which have follows the valley’s tapered contour, and molded the topography of the Napa Valley dwindles from a fully navigable river in and the mountains that surround it. its southern stretches to little more than a creek at its northern beginnings. The valley’s A great deal of volcanic activity occurred in Mt. St. Helena topography changes with its length, from the area about two million years ago. These the windswept estuarine flats and gentle volcanic eruptions deposited a series of Calistoga Sacramento hills in the south to the valley’s narrow tip ash and lava called the Sonoma Volcanics Napa at the town of Calistoga, cradled between over much of Napa and Sonoma Counties, the sheer walls of the Palisades at the foot of especially along the axis of the Mayacamas Oakland Mount St. Helena to the east and the forested Range. The small hills which emerge from the San Francisco Mayacamas Mountains to the west. valley floor north of Yountville were created by this volcanic activity. San Jose The Napa Valley’s amiable climate makes it a veritable garden. A wide variety of fruits Changes in sea level caused San Pablo Bay P A and vegetables thrive here: oranges, prunes, to alternately advance and retreat over the C I apples, olives and more. But what makes the southern part of the valley several times. This F Napa Valley truly unique is its remarkable resulted in the deposition of bay sediment IC suitability for the production of wine grapes. (clays and sand) as soil parent material in O CALIFORNIA A maritime climate that produces cool nights the southern valley. The bedrock varies from C E and warm days combines with soils that are coarse sandstones to marine conglomerates A deep but not excessively fertile to yield grapes to volcanic basalts and tuff. These different N that are singular in their intensity, complexity parent materials give rise to soils with very and balance. different ability to retain water, texture and fertility. Several different microclimates and a wide array of soil profiles mean that different vineyards produce grapes that are unique in style and character — but uniformly high in quality. Los Angeles San Diego 6 7 Soils and Geology Agricultural Land Preservation and Open Space The Napa Valley appellation is While it may appear to the casual observer Thirty years ago, in the formative stages of unique for the diversity of soils that Napa County is bursting with grape today’s Napa Valley wine industry, local found in such a small geographic vines, the truth is that only nine percent of vintners joined the community’s successful area.