A Trek Off The Beaten Path is Well Worth The Climb: Ladera on Howell Mountain

Just returned from Napa/Sonoma and it was a terrific trip. I'll be reporting on the wineries I visited and let you know my impressions with lots and lots of pics!

So let's start at the beginning...   

We started with a trek up to Howell Mountain to Ladera Vineyards. It's about 10 minutes off the Silverado Trail on the eastern side of Napa, in the Vaca Mountains. Howell Mountain was the first small area (sub-American Viticultural Area or AVA) carved out of the Napa Valley Appellation because its vineyards were so different from those on the Valley floor. The wines are intense, fruity, and tend to have lots of blueberry notes.

If I may dork out for a minute, let me clarify why the grapes from this mountain (and other mountains) are so unique.

If we think about mountains for a minute ('cause I know that's what you want to do in your free time), these areas are on sharp slopes, at altitude, and, importantly in Napa, above the fog line. This means they get sun hitting the grapes at an angle rather than beating down directly (less harsh light), they benefit from cool breezes higher in the atmosphere, and they get about 2 more hours of light than the vineyards in the Napa Valley, which are blanketed in fog in the early AM and late PM.

In general, mountainsides are cooler and have less dramatic temperature swings so the grapes ripen more consistently. These conditions are awesome for vineyards, because grapes can develop fruit flavor over time, but they won't generally get baked and lose their acid, tannin, or get too high in sugar, therefore alcohol (fermentation turns sugar to alcohol, BTW).

Ok, dork out done...back to Ladera.

Ladera, which means "hillside" in Spanish, is a beautiful, old property. The VP of sales and marketing, led me around and told me some cool facts about the place.

For starters, Ladera farms about 85 acres on this mountain. That's 12% of total production, the most of any producer. He jokingly called them the "tallest midget on the mountain." The Winery has changed hands many times over the years and gone by various names. It was actually started by some guys from Bordeaux in 1886, who sought to grow great mountain fruit in Napa.

In 1999, the current owners, wealthy cattle ranchers from Montana, allowed Robert Redford's "The Horse Whisperer" to be filmed on their ranch, and they took some time to live in Napa. They loved it, and then sold to some rich, prominent, famous Hollywood person (but don't ask who because they won't say) to buy Chateau Woltner, the property on which Ladera lies today. They also bought a vineyard on the western side of Napa Valley in Mount Veeder, which is at 1100 feet rather than 1800 feet. 

Sadly at the time the Montana couple purchased it, the Chateau had fallen into disrepair. They rebuilt the Winery, using the original facade and included miles of underground caves. The inner portion of the building was solid wood. They needed to modernize and clean it but rather than trash the wood, the owners kept and warehoused the slats and use them to make tables and other items when needed -- very green and smart! 

Ladera's winemaker, Karen Culler (whom I did not meet), seems to be a European style winemaker. She spends a lot of time in the vineyards, and directs the hand-harvesting (gentle on the fruit) each year, deciding row by row, which is ready for picking. The Winery uses pretty natural practices -- gravity to load the grapes into the tank (helps crush the grapes as they rest on their own weight, which preserves flavors), natural yeast that exists on the grape skins to ferment the wine, and they don't filter the wine at all. It's a very non-interventionist way of making wine.

The Winery makes 12,000 cases a year and most of it is sold to wine club members and in restaurants. You have to make an appointment to visit, but the view is magnificent and I bet the new tasting room they have planned for next year will be awesome. The grounds are gorgeous and these people have an incredible aesthetic. Although my tour guide was very corporate in manner and projected a bit of disdain for the whole Wine For Normal People thing (sorry to him, but I gotta be honest), I still had a great time and the wines were good. 

Here's my take:  

2010 Ladera Howell Mountain, Sauvignon Blanc, $25  

Color: Light straw in color, this was a very pale wine. 

Smell: It didn't have lush fruit or the floral character (like gardenias or jasmine flowers) that I usually find in Napa Sauvignon Blanc. It was a little herbal, fresh, and like cat pee (very common in Sauv Blanc!). 

Taste: They put 10-15% of the wine in an oak barrel, which I could sense in the taste and texture. The wine was a little creamy and smokey from the barrel.

Drink or sink? Drink. Totally refreshing, but it wouldn't be my first choice in Sauv Blanc, especially not for $25.

2007 Ladera Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $39  

This wine has 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Malbec added to the Cab, and it represents 50% of Ladera's production. It's from the broad Napa Valley appellation because the fruit comes both from the Howell Mountain vineyard (70%) and the one in Mount Veeder. 

Color: It was nearly black and super fragrant. 

Smell: It smelled like blackberries, green pepper (from the Cabernet), tobacco, and dark violets. 

Taste: This was a very food-friendly Cabernet. It was medium-bodied, tasted like it smelled, and wasn't too complex. 

Drink or Sink? Drink. The staff opened a new bottle of this and I would have liked to have some time to let this one get air -- I think the wine could have used a little time to mellow out. It was pretty tannic and the fruit wasn't very lively. Still, a nice wine for the price.

2006 Ladera Lone Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon, $65 From the vineyard in Mount Veeder, this was a totally different wine from the previous one.Color: It was lighter in color than the Napa -- it was crimson with a very pale, watery rim. Smell: It smelled like a ripe blackberry and like black currant. It also had a dirty, earthy smell, which I liked a lot.
Taste: The wine tasted like it was grown in a cooler climate. What does that mean? It wasn't all baked fruit and pie flavors. Although bolder than the Napa wine, this was still pretty restrained. It was earthy and had great mouth drying tannin and good mouthwatering acidity.
Drink or Sink? Drink. A very balanced wine -- again, I think this would be better with food than it was alone.

2007 Ladera Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, $70  

Color: Ok, so this wine was pretty much black-purple. It had a lot of sediment in it -- that's where it matters that it wasn't filtered! If you buy this, you may want to run it through a filter before drinking it so you don't swallow chunks of sediment!

Smell: It smelled similar to the others -- green pepper, some blackberry and earthy aromas. 

Taste: I expected this to be huge and over-the-top, but it was very restrained. There were some blackberry, black current, and even strawberry and cranberry flavors and a prominent earthiness. The tannins were balanced and the wine was kind of chewy, but still pretty medium bodied. 

Drink or Sink? Drink. I liked this because it was moderate, and pretty medium in texture and flavor. If you like big Cabs, this isn't for you, but I really dug it.  

All in all, these wines were good, but I would have preferred to try them with food. My impression is that alone, they were in a no-man's land. They were neither unabashed in fruitiness like a lot of Napa Cabs, nor were they really earthy like European Cabs. They were extremely clean-tasting with restrained fruit -- a recipe that goes better with food than alone. 

That said, I'd recommend a visit. It's beautiful and the prices for Napa Cab were super competitive. Thanks to Ladera for hosting me!!