Single vineyards will define Napa’s future

The Napa Valley will increasingly be defined less by broader appellations and more by single vineyard, single block wines in the near future thinks winemaker Tor Kenward.

Speaking to the drinks business, Kenward said that as it wasn’t really possible to “break Napa up much more [by appellation]. If there’s really a trend it’s less the appellation and more the vineyard. It’s really going to come down to, in the next 10 years, what are the great vineyards?”

Having left Beringer after more than 30 years when it was acquired by what was then the Foster’s Group in the early 2000s, he set up his own winery and went about making a range of single vineyard wines.

These are plots he “had his eye on” following his time at Beringer and include Beckstoffer To Kalon, Cimarossa, Hudson and Beresini.

Napa might be closer to this single vineyard-driven situation today if history hadn’t got in the way. Kenward pointed out that Napa’s wines were winning awards in the 19^th century as the industry grew and flourished between 1863 and 1900.

There were around 200 wineries in Napa (over 700 in California) before the 1929 economic crash and Prohibition set the American wine industry “right back”. When the re-emergence of Napa came about in the 1970s, there weren’t more than 40 or so wineries in the region.

Kenward said he felt “very fortunate” to be witnessing the “renaissance” of California’s wine industries, and vineyards that have “already proven to be world class taking centre stage again.”

Yet if the focus does fall further on individual vineyards might a classification be needed? And how would one go about ranking the greatest vineyards in Napa if and when the occasion comes?

In some sense a classification of sorts already exists, based on a general consensus about which vineyards are superior – and reflected in the price of fruit per ton.

Kenward explained that a ton of Cabernet from the much lauded Beckstoffer To Kalon vineyard cost him US$26,000 a ton. The average price for fruit in Napa is around $6,000 p/ton.

He noted that had been a few attempts to rank, rate and categorise the best vineyards but those involved had “always backed off” at some point or another, usually because “we’re not there yet”.

Nonetheless, Kenward suggested that it won’t be long before fresh attempts are made to do so again – but who will be behind it? “Who would you trust?”

One thing is for sure, if Napa ever does think about classifications it would do well to heed the example of St Emilion and the on-going brouhaha over two failed classifications, the most recent having taken place in 2012.