I’ve always equated Napa Valley as a wine region with big powerful cabernet sauvignons. And so, I was surprised to learn recently about the elegant, nuanced wines of its Carneros appellation, along its far southern belt—best known for its Burgundy-style pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. During a whirlwind tasting in New York with Chris Kajani, president of Bouchaine Vineyards and one of the area’s most acclaimed winemakers, I got a fascinating primer on what makes Carneros unique.
As the gateway to Napa Valley driving from the Golden Gate Bridge, Carneros is the portion of Napa closest to the water. With cool winds blowing in off the San Pablo Bay, vineyard temperatures are often 20 degrees lower than in the rest of the region. Most mornings, thick fog cloaks the vines in a sort of climactic sunblock, resulting in grapes with a fresh, vibrant acidity. It all makes for restrained, subtle, elegant wines.
Celebrating its fortieth birthday as a wine region, Carneros has the distinction of being the only part of Napa where cabernet sauvignon is not king, focusing instead on bright, fresh, lower-alcohol reds and whites, as I discovered last fall when I tasted Kajani’s award-winning pinot noir during Wine Spectator’s New York Wine Experience.
Her Bouchaine Calera Clone Pinot Noir was an energetic eye-opener. And her 2018 Hyde Chardonnay, perfumed with white flowers, peach and apricot, was ethereal on the palate, with a finish of honeyed citrus and a refined minerality. It was among the first times in memory I felt myself swooning for a Napa chardonnay (I find so many, from outside Carneros, to be too big and buttery).
What made these wines so good?
It comes down, says Kajani, to those cool climate Carneros grapes, which are so coveted that many producers in other parts of Napa often source from the region. Domaine Chandon in Yountville brings in much of its grapes from Carneros as does Frog’s Leap in Rutherford, which has a long-term contract with Tony Truchard’s vineyard. Truchard planted his first vineyards in the 1970s and then started producing his own wines in the 1990s. Larry Hyde, another trailblazing grape grower since the ’70s, launched his own label, Hyde Vineyards Estate, in 2017 and has gotten raves from critics.
The region is also known for its sparkling wines, made with both pinot noir and chardonnay. Domaine Carneros—which sits on a high hill and appears like a beacon as you first enter the region—is owned by the French Taittinger family. Designed in Louis XV style, the winery was inspired by their 18th-century Château de la Marquetterie in Champagne, with its formal French gardens, fountains and sweeping staircases. Domaine produces some of the most dazzling sparkling wines in California.
Bouchaine, which is on a 100-acre plot just down the road, is Carneros’s oldest, continuously operating, family-owned winery with the region’s newest architecturally sleek high-design tasting room. Kajani insisted I put a visit to the property on my bucket list, promising a day of falconry in the vineyards as extra enticement. Bouchaine’s well-trained falcons chase pest birds away from those coveted Carneros grapes.
Baroness Recommends
- Domaine Carneros Estate Brut Cuvée 2019 ($38): Expressing scents of white flowers and brioche, this blend, aged three years sur lie, possesses pinpoint bubbles and a toasty finish.
- Bouchaine Calera Clone Pinot Noir 2021 ($90): With beautiful layers of boysenberry and mulberry fruit and violet aromas, this intriguing wine has tremendous energy.
- Frog’s Leap Shale and Stone Chardonnay 2021 ($42): With grapes from Truchard Vineyard, aged sur lie in concrete, it has citrus aromas and gunpowder minerality along with fantastic freshness.
- Hyde Vineyard Estate Larry Hyde Pinot Noir 2019 ($85): Perfumed with raspberry, cranberry and dried florals, this vibrant pinot has a mouthwatering finish.
