Napa Valley with Kelli White

RE: Napa Valley with Kelli White

user22791 — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:44:33 GMT

Great insight. Thank you.

RE: Napa Valley with Kelli White

user33796 — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:17:09 GMT

Great listen! I really like the way Kelli talks about wine. It really is unfortunate (and ironic given the subject matter) that the secondary market forced her to price out a whole lot of people with this printing. Good for her that the demand is there, but capitalism strikes again!

RE: Napa Valley with Kelli White

user47236 — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 17:49:39 GMT

Another thing, I imagine climate change had a lot of impact on Napa. Not just in recent years, but Charles Krug is directly across the street from the CIA in St. Helena, and I remember learning that Charles Krug started his vineyards with what he knew, similar to the Joseph Phelps' winemaker. Apparently, he didn't just plant riesling; he planted riesling on the valley floor of St. Helena, which is one of the hottest nested AVAs in Napa. Today, I can't imagine planting really anything other than hot climate grapes, Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Zinfandel. But I know climate change must have been really intense, not just because of Charles Krug, but because of Pope Valley Winery. Pope Valley is located on the eastern side of Howell Mountain. Super hot and dry. You feel like you're in the Old West (one of the main streets is named Stagecoach Road). But Pope Valley Winery was started in the late 1800s, and inside the cellar is an old sign that states they were making Burgundy-style wines. Imagine being able to produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in a somewhat Burgundy-style in Napa, but not just on the valley, where you get the morning fog from San Pablo Bay, but on the mountain slopes of Howell Mountain, where Merlot, Cabernet, and other hot climate grapes currently thrive

RE: Napa Valley with Kelli White

user47236 — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 17:41:09 GMT

Great listen! I went to the CIA in St. Helena for both AOS and the beverage concentration. During the beverage concentration, we had classes on the history of Napa/California, and I did some research on zinfandel. The reason why zinfandel became so popular is, like Kelli said, because mining was a thirsty job. But zinfandel, in particular, didn't require trellising, unlike other grapes. And this was important because at the time, there wasn't enough timber for viticulture, as it was all used up in the mines and canals. Interesting enough, the Sierra Foothills had a large number of wineries as well during the Gold Rush. When the Gold Rush came to an end, the miners moved closer to San Francisco, and so the wineries lost business because Napa and Sonoma were easier to get to. That's the same story for how Medoc became more popular than St.-Emilion, Pomerol, and the rest of the Right Bank--Medoc was easier to get to from Bordeaux than the Right Bank. However, unlike the Bordeaux vineyards, the Sierra Foothill vineyards, despite losing popularity, were able to remain isolated from the rest of California, leading to some of the vineyards being unaffected by Phylloxera.

RE: Napa Valley with Kelli White

user10844 — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:16:16 GMT

Awesome