A Sense of Place

An Intimate Portrait of the Niebaum-Coppola Winery and the Napa Valley

Steven Kolpan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415920049
• eBook ISBN: 9781135772710
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Business

In A Sense of Place, renowned wine expert and writer Steven Kolpan tells the story of how Francis Ford Coppola brought California's most distinguished and historic vineyard back to life.

Gustave Niebaum's Inglenook Estate, started in 1879, was one of the Napa Valley's first established vineyards and the birthplace of its premium wine industry. Generations after Niebaum's death, the vineyard was sold to Heublein, the wine and spirits monolith, who broke up the land and changed the Inglenook brand from a premium, connoisseur wine to a mass-market jug wine.

In 1975, Francis Coppola bought the Niebaum residence and the surrounding estate. Along with the original estate's reputation, he also brought back some of its original workers, including Rafael Rodriquez, who, in h is late seventies, now serves as the vineyard manager and historian.

Coppola overcame naysayers, red tape, and financial turmoil to reestablish the winery as a defender of quality, producing wine under four different labels, including the revered wine Rubicon.

In 1995, Coppola purchased the Inglenook Chateau and its adjacent vineyards, fulfilling his dream of reuniting the original Napa Valley estate.

Kolpan's luscious, flavorful narrative is worth enjoying now and keeping for later.

A Sense of Place

In 1938, André Tchelistcheff, a thirty-seven-year-old Russian émigré and a former White Russian Army officer who fought against the Bolsheviks in the Crimea, was studying fermentation science and winemaking in Paris at the Institut Pasteur. Here he tasted a California wine — Inglenook Gewürztraminer — for the first time. And it was here that Tchelistcheff met Georges de Latour, an elegant Frenchman who owned the Beaulieu Vineyard in the very sleepy town of Rutherford in the center of the Napa Valley. Because the enologist and winemaker for the winery, Leon Bonnet, was about to retire, de Latour needed to hire someone to fill Bonnet's position. On September 15, 1938, Andre Tchelistcheff arrived at Beaulieu Vineyards, and the California wine industry would never be the same.

André Tchelistcheff was a short man, a little over five feet, and bore an uncanny resemblance to the actor Bela Lugosi (famous for his portrayal of Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein in Hollywood films of the 1930s). Tchelistcheff, who died in 1994 at the age of ninety-two, was never without a cigarette, even in the Beaulieu tasting rooms, to the dismay of other tasters. He was very serious, even clinical, about his work and always wore a coat and tie under a pristine white lab coat. His nickname at Beaulieu was “the Doctor.”

Tchelistcheff was undoubtedly the single most influential person in the post-Prohibition Napa Valley wine industry. He introduced modern winemaking innovations such as cool fermentation and controlled malolactic fermentation, both of which led to better-balanced wines and longer lived wines. Familiar with Pasteur's work on microbes and bacteria, Tchelistcheff insisted on the most sanitary conditions in the winery.

Tchelistcheff, who was quickly made a vice president of the winery, also convinced Georges de Latour to concentrate on Cabernet Sauvignon as the flagship wine of Beaulieu. De Latour died in 1939, and in 1940 the first Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour Private Reserve Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon was released by André Tchelistcheff. For about the next fifty vintages, the Georges de Latour Private Reserve label would become not only Beaulieu's finest wine, but also the most famous and most sought-after fine wine produced in the United States. The wine is made today by BV winemaker Joel Aiken, and it is consistently a very fine wine in the intensely competitive field of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

While the Inglenook/Niebaum-Coppola estate is the oldest original vineyard site in Rutherford, it was only put back together in its original 1880 land configuration in 1995. In that year, Francis Coppola, after buying the John Daniel property in 1975, bought the front vineyards and the Inglenook château from Heublein, Inc. Beaulieu Vineyards — now known as BV and owned by Heublein since 1969—was purchased by Monsieur and Madame de Latour first in 1900, as a four-acre vineyard near Rutherford, and then in 1923, as the 100-acre vineyard next door to Inglenook.

Beaulieu has produced wine every year since 1900, even during Prohibition. Georges de Latour had an exclusive and lucrative contract with the Catholic Church to produce altar wines, and Beaulieu, with a visiting rabbi in attendance, also produced kosher sacramental wines. Prohibition, which essentially ended the first wave of Napa Valley wines and wineries for so many, represented a major boom for Georges de Latour and Beaulieu.

It was André Tchelistcheff who coined the term “Rutherford Dust” to describe the unique character, the terroir, of Rutherford's great Cabernet vineyards, and the appearance, nose, and flavor of the finest Cabernet Sauvignon wines produced from those Rutherford estates.

Tchelistcheff, in addition to his duties at BV, became a highly regarded consultant to wineries in the Napa Valley—including Niebaum-Coppola— and indeed, around the world. He nurtured, promulgated, and witnessed the emergence of world-class Napa Valley wines, especially Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. His career in the Napa Valley spanned fifty-five years, and he heralded these wines through several eras, beginning with the chaotic era of post-Prohibition, and ending with the refined era of the 1980s and 1990s, when Napa Valley wines took their rightful place on the world stage.

What did Tchelistcheff mean by “Rutherford Dust,” and does the term resonate when tasting Rubicon, the true descendant of the finest wines made by Gustave Niebaum and John Daniel, a singular wine from the most historically significant vineyard in Rutherford?

The town of Rutherford runs parallel to Highway 29, the dinky two-lane road that bisects the entire Napa Valley. Originally built for horse and buggy traffic when Rutherford was nothing more than a whistle stop, on a weekend during the grape harvest, today's “29” resembles a parking lot more than a highway—so concentrated is the tourist crush. As California's second- or third-largest tourist attraction (Disneyland is first, the San Diego Zoo and the Napa Valley run neck-and-neck for second), the highway must accommodate about 25,000 cars per day on a busy weekend.

Traveling north for 3.3 miles, driving toward St. Helena and then Calistoga, Rutherford begins just a bit south of Jack and Dolores Cakebread's winery, Cakebread Cellars, established in 1973. Rutherford ends at Zinfandel Lane, where Rafael Rodriguez, vineyard historian of the Niebaum-Coppola winery, and his wife, Tila, own a home just a stone's throw from the Niebaum-Coppola estate. Rutherford is only 2 miles at its widest point, starting at Mt. St. John, which is the western border of Niebaum-Coppola and part of the Mayacamas Range, stretching to the Vaca Mountain Range due east, bordering the Silverado Trail and the Stags Leap district of the Napa Valley.

Although you get the feeling, when gazing at the Mayacamas and Vaca Mountains, that Rutherford is truly situated in a “bowl” on the Valley floor, this is really not the case. The Napa River, which runs through the center of the Valley, is 172 feet above sea level, and Rutherford vineyards extend vertically as high as 500 feet above sea level.

The mountains surrounding Rutherford are at their most majestic from daybreak to early morning. The fog that rolls into the Napa Valley, formed late at night by the cooling waters of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay, finds its epicenter in Rutherford at about 7 A.M. The Mayacamas and Vaca mountain ranges are socked in with this multilayered fog, and appear to be much higher than their actual 600 feet. As the sun burns the fog off the mountains and the vines, the most casual observer can see vineyards planted on the mountainsides.

The Napa River, after which the Valley is named, can flood easily, especially in late September and October, due to shallow banks. It has become a watershed for an increasing number, some say too many, of vineyards as the runoff from the ground finds its way to the river, which serves as a drain. Largely gone are the days, dating back to the local Wappo Indians and stretching to the early years of the twentieth century, when the river served as an important means of transportation and a source of fish, especially trout.

Rutherford soils are generally comprised of loamy sand and gravel, specifically Yolo, Bale, and Pleasanton loams, which are somewhat richer and more fertile than, say, Bordeaux soils. The soils were formed by three alluvial fans, that is to say by three separate riverbeds, immediately following the Ice Age. The soils were formed by broken and shattered sandstone, which makes for well-drained gravel. Beneath the surface of the soil, a layering of the earth allows for water to feed the local streams and the Napa River. If we examine the pedigree of the soils, we find that the soil composition is marine sedimentary deposits and some volcanic materials.

By a quirk of nature, being that Rutherford is located in the Napa Valley's widest expanse, the area is the first part of the Valley to get late evening/morning fog that rolls off the Pacific, and the first area to get sunshine to burn off the fog. This pattern, coupled with cool nights, makes Rutherford the ideal place to grow grapes for wine. Morning fog gives the vineyards just enough moisture to disperse nutrient flow. The sun, of course, through photosynthesis in the vine, ripens the fruit. Finally, the cool nights provide a balanced measure of acidity in the grapes. Rutherford contains a wide variety of mesoclimates (often incorrectly referred to as microclimates, which really refers to the climatic differences in a canopy of vines, not an entire growing area) for such a small area, and there can sometimes be a temperature difference of 10°F between Rutherford and Oakville (the closest town to the south) and Rutherford and St. Helena (the closest town to the north).

The University of California at Davis was established by the State of California as the University Farm School in 1908, three years after the State of California purchased the 778-acre Jerome C. Davis farm. In 1922, the College of Agriculture was established. Over the years, but especially starting in the mid-1960s, UC Davis has become the leading university in the United States for its programs in agriculture, environmental sciences, fermentation science, enology, and winemaking. Davis has turned out hundreds of winemakers and enologists now working in California. The university, under the leadership of such scientists and scholars as Maynard Amerine, Albert Winkler, Harold Olmo, and Ann Noble, has undertaken important viticultural and vinicultural research, which has done much to enhance the entire wine industry in this country, but especially in California, and most especially in the Napa Valley.

UC Davis has determined that Rutherford is a Region II, meaning that it is the ideal climate for growing the red grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, and the white grape Sauvignon Blanc. Using the Davis Heat Summation, which measures the high and low temperatures of a region or subregion every day from April 1 through October 31 for several years, UC Davis can determine how many degree days or heat summation units the region or subregion will contain. We look to Bordeaux as the quintessential Region II, and they grow the same grapes there as are grown in Rutherford. Carneros, at the southern tip of Napa and Sonoma and closer to the San Pablo Bay, is a cooler Region I, best for growing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (exactly like Burgundy and the Champagne regions of France).

It is not hard to imagine why people fall in love with the scenic beauty as well as the wines of Rutherford. Rutherford covers 6,840 acres, of which 3,300 acres are under vine. Amazingly, almost unbelievably, almost 2,400 of those acres were not planted until 1989. Some of the reasons for this boom: Beginning in 1985, there was a dramatic increase in the per capita consumption of wine among Americans; from 1985 to 1991, consumption of red table wines grew about 12 percent (from 1991 to 1999, consumption has grown only 7 percent). Also, if we look at the average price Napa Valley growers received per ton of grapes in 1984 vs. 1989, the price shifts from about $768 per ton to about $ 1,157. If we look at 1989 prices vs. 1997 Napa harvest prices, we see a jump of 77 percent to $2,005 per ton for Cabernet Sauvignon, and a sales total of $239,737,000 for total grape tonnage sold in the Napa Valley. Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon always commands top dollar when sold to wineries, but most of the Rutherford growers are also producers, so they sell very few tons of grapes on the open market.

Rutherford has resisted the trend in the Napa Valley toward foreign investment and multinational corporate ownership. Until 1995, the two notable exceptions were Inglenook and BV Since Francis Coppola reunited the Inglenook estate in that year, only BV is owned by a foreign parent, Heublein, which is part of the British conglomerate, Grand Met. Rumors surrounding the possible sale of BV abound throughout the Napa Valley. Rumored asking price? $300 million. Rumored buyers? Robert Mondavi, Ernest Gallo, the Beringer Wine Estates group, which is, like Mondavi, a publicly traded company, or Jess Jackson of Kendall-Jackson wines. Francis Coppola says he is not interested.

About 2,000 Rutherford acres are planted in Cabernet Sauvignon (with grapes worth about $20 million during the 1997 harvest), with 550 acres of Merlot, and about 120 acres of Cabernet Franc. Less than 300 acres are planted to Chardonnay. Of the 137 property owners in Rutherford, 111 have vineyards; fifty-three of those vineyards are less than 25 acres, and only eight are over 100 acres. There are thirty wineries in Rutherford, and twenty-six of these wineries produce Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

If a wine is labeled as a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (e.g., Robert Mondavi) or Cabernet blend (e.g., Opus One, Insignia), consumer expectation, largely satisfied, is that the wine will be very good to excellent. When a wine is labeled as a Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon (e.g., BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve) or blend (e.g., Rubicon), consumer expectation, again largely satisfied, leaps to the level of a connoisseur's wine — a wine of international importance.

Rutherford, an American Viticultural Area (AVA), as determined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF), is a subappellation of the Napa Valley AVA. The Napa Valley was granted AVA status in 1983, Rutherford in 1994. If a wine label reads “Rutherford” as the wine's controlled place of origin—what the French call Appellation Contrôlée — then according to BATF regulations at least 85% of the grapes that make up the wine in the bottle must have been grown and harvested in Rutherford. Legally, the remaining 15% of the grapes may come from anywhere in the United States.

Increasingly, wine consumers, connoisseurs, and collectors are paying attention to the AVA on a wine label. Ostensibly, an AVA is granted by the BATF based on the following criteria: soil, patterns of climate, elevation, rainfall, distinctive boundaries (such as mountains and rivers), historic and geographic importance, and reputation as a wine region. The BATF is petitioned by vintners and grape growers in a particular area, and hearings are held in support of, or opposition to, the petition.

There is no doubt that a recognized AVA on a label of California wine adds luster and glamour to a wine, helping to enhance its market position. Wines from such AVAs as Stags Leap, Rutherford, Oakville, and Howell Mountain in the Napa Valley, and Alexander Valley, Russian River, and Chalk Hill in Sonoma Valley have a built-in advantage in the wine marketplace. The Anderson Valley in Mendocino County is the appellation for fine méthode champenoise sparkling wines. Pinot Noir or Chardonnay from Carneros, an AVA shared by both Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley, defines the category of these wines in the United States, and is second only to Burgundy France in worldwide reputation for fine Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

As often as a well-known AVA helps to market a wine, lesser-known and less-revered appellations are often intentionally kept off the wine label. A reasonably priced wine grown in the land-locked and hot San Joaquin Valley or the overly productive Central Valley AVA is far more likely to use the “California” appellation, which is available to all wines produced in the state. The California AVA is also used by producers who source their grapes throughout the state, never attaining the legal 85% necessary to call a wine by a more specific appellation.

If the wine label reads “Cabernet Sauvignon,” or any other varietal name (e.g., Chardonnay, Merlot), then at least 75% of the grapes that make up the wine must be Cabernet Sauvignon. The remaining 25% may be any grape or grapes. This can improve or diminish the quality of a wine, depending on how the winemaker approaches this option. Wines made from grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir do not take well to blending, and the best of these will always be 100%. In Burgundy's Côte d'Or, which still represents the world standard in these wines, white wines are 100% Chardonnay, and red wines are 100% Pinot Noir. However, wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Cabernet Franc can, with judicious blending of wines made from each of these grapes, be improved. A combined 20% Merlot and Cabernet Franc can soften the tough...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword A Sense of Heritage
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Rutherford Dust
• Chapter 2 The Captain of the Ship
• Chapter 3 The Inheritor
• Chapter 4 One with the Land
• Chapter 5 No Winners
• Chapter 6 The Echo of the Vine
• Chapter 7 Harvest Time
• Chapter 8 Stewardship
• Chapter 9 Consulting with the Captain
• Chapter 10 Tasting Notes: The Rubicon Vintages from 1978-1995
• Bibliography
• Index