Let's face it -- visiting Napa Valley can at times feel more like Visiting Disney World. The sea of wineries that produce hundreds of thousands if not millions of bottles of wine is endless as one drives down Highway 29. That's why we usually "look to the hills" for our suppliers. Despite the incredible attention that the Napa Valley receives, most of it is directed along Highway 29, and the savvy shoppers looking for outstanding wines off-the-beaten track is luckily left with a few options, some of which we have been lucky enough to uncover in our extensive travels to California. Whether going east or west, the key to finding hidden gems in Napa is to do a bit of mountain-climbing.
The Napa Valley is bounded to the east by the Palisades and Mt. St.-Helena and to the west by the Mayacamas Mountains. (Bisecting the two is the Napa River.) The Mayacamas Mountains are further subdivided into three separate AVA's (American Viticultural Areas), or place names, that make wines with special individual charcteristics: Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain and Daimond Mountain. It's up high on Diamond Mountain, poetically enough on Petrified Forest Road, that we found the amiable conversationalist, Richard Graeser and his traditionally made classic California wines.
First a bit of a lesson in terroir. Terroir is the untranslatable French word that describes the sum total of all the natural elements that affect wine. The primary component is climate, and then I use the alliterative collection of soil, aspect, altitude and slope to describe the remaining dominant features of terroir. These are the primary factors that affect the way the grapes turn out. All the winemaker then has to do is not screw it up!
Diamond Mountain is high up above the Valley Floor. On the Valley Floor, it gets very hot. Heat makes really deeply colored, full wines that are high in alcohol. The trick is getting enough acidity. Diamond Mountain is much cooler - because temperature decreases as you go higher up - think of the snow-covered top of a mountain. In a cooler climate, the terroir shines through more greatly because it is not masked by all the jammy fruit and high alcohol that is present in grapes grown in warmer sites. The wines are a bit more red in color and flavor profile and have better natural structure. So whereas the wines of the Valley floor have blackberries, black currants and ultra-full body, the wines from the Mayacamas Mountains more or less feature red currants, cherries and fraises de bois (wild strawberries). All the winemaker has to do is not screw it up!
I was sold on Richard Graeser immediately. An intelligent man whose former life consisted of running a large commercial farm further south, he immediately makes you comfortable. He is at the same time friendly and serious, and is just the type of straight-shooter with whom we like to work. He could see a pile of manure coming from a mile away, and while he enjoys conversation, he also likes to get his point across.
Our conversation quickly turned to the terroir of Diamond Mountain as we sampled some older vintages of his balanced, sophisticated Cabernet Franc. I told him that I loved California Cabernet Franc with proper age when properly made. He sized me up, knew that my comment was honest, and then agreed. I loved the redder fruits and equilibrium that the wine offered - exactly what I wanted from a cooler, mountain AVA. Mr. Graeser told me that it was his intention to make wines that represent Diamond Mountain. He could just as easily leave the grapes hang on the vines for much longer to try for greater maturity (darker color, higher alcohol), but he wouldn't do it. He's not trying to make wines that fit the current trends, he makes wines the way he likes them, the way that the Daimond Mountain wants them to be, the way I like them.
I sample hundreds if not thousands of California Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot each year. Most wine lovers envy the job of a wine professional, failing to realize that most of the wines I pour directly down the drain within seconds because they all taste the same. Not Richard Graeser's wines though, they taste like Diamond Mountain.
More on Graeser Winery
Graeser Winery 2002 "Alex's Ruff Red" Zinfandel Blend 6 Pack
Graeser Winery 2002 "Alex's Ruff Red" Zinfandel Blend 12 pack
Graeser Winery 2002 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 6 Pack
Graeser Winery 2002 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 12 pack
Graeser Winery 2003 Late Harvest Semillon
The Napa Valley is bounded to the east by the Palisades and Mt. St.-Helena and to the west by the Mayacamas Mountains. (Bisecting the two is the Napa River.) The Mayacamas Mountains are further subdivided into three separate AVA's (American Viticultural Areas), or place names, that make wines with special individual charcteristics: Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain and Daimond Mountain. It's up high on Diamond Mountain, poetically enough on Petrified Forest Road, that we found the amiable conversationalist, Richard Graeser and his traditionally made classic California wines.
First a bit of a lesson in terroir. Terroir is the untranslatable French word that describes the sum total of all the natural elements that affect wine. The primary component is climate, and then I use the alliterative collection of soil, aspect, altitude and slope to describe the remaining dominant features of terroir. These are the primary factors that affect the way the grapes turn out. All the winemaker then has to do is not screw it up!
Diamond Mountain is high up above the Valley Floor. On the Valley Floor, it gets very hot. Heat makes really deeply colored, full wines that are high in alcohol. The trick is getting enough acidity. Diamond Mountain is much cooler - because temperature decreases as you go higher up - think of the snow-covered top of a mountain. In a cooler climate, the terroir shines through more greatly because it is not masked by all the jammy fruit and high alcohol that is present in grapes grown in warmer sites. The wines are a bit more red in color and flavor profile and have better natural structure. So whereas the wines of the Valley floor have blackberries, black currants and ultra-full body, the wines from the Mayacamas Mountains more or less feature red currants, cherries and fraises de bois (wild strawberries). All the winemaker has to do is not screw it up!
I was sold on Richard Graeser immediately. An intelligent man whose former life consisted of running a large commercial farm further south, he immediately makes you comfortable. He is at the same time friendly and serious, and is just the type of straight-shooter with whom we like to work. He could see a pile of manure coming from a mile away, and while he enjoys conversation, he also likes to get his point across.
Our conversation quickly turned to the terroir of Diamond Mountain as we sampled some older vintages of his balanced, sophisticated Cabernet Franc. I told him that I loved California Cabernet Franc with proper age when properly made. He sized me up, knew that my comment was honest, and then agreed. I loved the redder fruits and equilibrium that the wine offered - exactly what I wanted from a cooler, mountain AVA. Mr. Graeser told me that it was his intention to make wines that represent Diamond Mountain. He could just as easily leave the grapes hang on the vines for much longer to try for greater maturity (darker color, higher alcohol), but he wouldn't do it. He's not trying to make wines that fit the current trends, he makes wines the way he likes them, the way that the Daimond Mountain wants them to be, the way I like them.
I sample hundreds if not thousands of California Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot each year. Most wine lovers envy the job of a wine professional, failing to realize that most of the wines I pour directly down the drain within seconds because they all taste the same. Not Richard Graeser's wines though, they taste like Diamond Mountain.
More on Graeser Winery
Graeser Winery 2002 "Alex's Ruff Red" Zinfandel Blend 6 Pack
Graeser Winery 2002 "Alex's Ruff Red" Zinfandel Blend 12 pack
Graeser Winery 2002 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 6 Pack
Graeser Winery 2002 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 12 pack
Graeser Winery 2003 Late Harvest Semillon
