Napa Valley AVA
Napa Valley AVA (or Napa Valley American Viticultural Area, recognized January 28, 1981) is a wine-growing region in Napa County in the US state of California and is part of the supra-regional North Coast AVA . Due to the Mediterranean climate, wines thrive in the Napa Valley that have been among the world's best since the 1960s and are mainly made from Cabernet Sauvignon , Zinfandel and Chardonnay grapes. Many well-known winemakers are based in the Napa Valley. In 1861 Charles Krug , who came from Prussia, set up the first commercial wine-growing business in St. Helena . After various setbacks such as the phylloxera disaster and alcohol prohibition, the outstanding performance of some wines in the Paris wine jury in 1976 gave the area new impetus.
geography
The valley is flanked west and north by the Mayacamas Mountains and east by the Vaca Mountains . The valley rises slowly from the Bay of San Pablo in the south at sea level to an altitude of 110 meters above sea level near Calistoga at the foot of Mount Saint Helena in the Mayacamas Mountains. Oakville and Rutherford are practically in the middle of the valley following the Napa River.
In the south of the valley there are sedimentary soils that were deposited during some flooding periods of the Bay of San Pablo. In the north, on the other hand, there are soils of volcanic origin.
climate
The Napa Valley climate is influenced by several factors:
- The closer a location is to the Pacific, the cooler it gets. The daytime temperature can be almost 0.5 ° C higher inland than on the coast.
- Through incisions in the mountain chains of the California Coast Ranges that run parallel to the coast, cool morning mist and cooling sea breezes can penetrate locally into the interior. This effect explains why Los Carneros AVA to the south is cooler than the areas further north.
- The east side of the valley is significantly drier than the west, as the winter storms from inland tend to rain down on the western slopes.
Wine tourism
Napa Valley has a total of 4.7 million overnight guests who come for wine tourism . This makes the wine-growing region behind Disneyland one of the most popular tourist attractions in California. Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail, which runs further east, are popular feeders to many of the famous wineries.
The subzones of the Napa Valley
- Atlas Peak AVA
- Chile's Valley AVA
- Diamond Mountain District AVA
- Howell Mountain AVA
- Los Carneros AVA
- Mt. Veeder AVA
- Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley AVA
- Oakville AVA
- Rutherford AVA
- Spring Mountain District AVA
- St. Helena AVA
- Stags Leap District AVA
- Wild Horse Valley AVA
- Yountville AVA
See also
literature
- Jonathan Swinchatt, David G. Howell: The Winemaker's Dance: Exploring Terroir in the Napa Valley. University of California Press, Berkeley 2004, ISBN 978-0-520-23513-7 .
- James T. Lapsley: Bottled Poetry: Napa Winemaking from Prohibition to the Modern Era . University of California Press, Berkeley 1996.
Web links
- Guide to Napa Valley Wineries
- NapaValley.com/ WineCountry portal for Napa Valley
- Krug & Beringer - the origins of commercial viticulture in the Napa Valley
Individual evidence
- ^ Code of Federal Regulations. "Section 9.23 Napa Valley." ( Memento of the original from July 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Title 27: Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Part 9 - American Viticultural Areas; Subpart C - Approved American Viticultural Areas. Last access to this page December 19, 2007.
- ^ Appellation America (2007). "Napa Valley AVA: Appellation Description" . Last access to this page December 19, 2007.
Coordinates: 38 ° 25 ′ 1.2 ″ N , 122 ° 19 ′ 21 ″ W.