Golden Grapes

(FT) - Napa Valley’s 17,637 hectares of vineyard earn $13bn a year for the county. Napa is the most valuable wine name outside Europe.

Napa: the simple, euphonious, universally pronounceable name makes a happy start. Vines, since they were first rooted in the valley in the late 1830s or early 1840s, have thrived here, as they do in many Californian locations. The fact, though, that Napa’s 17,637 hectares of vineyard earn $13bn a year for Napa County (more than $700,000 of economic activity per hectare) is exceptional. It makes Napa the most valuable wine name outside Europe. The release price of the valley’s most sought-after wines, like Harlan or Screaming Eagle, was higher in 2009 and 2010 than top Bordeaux second growths. When the valley’s annual charity auction, part of a four-day celebration of the whole region, was held in June this year, around 2,000 people came – and it raised $16.9m, vaporising the previous record of $10.5m set in 2005.

 What sort of a place is it? Those who visit Australia’s Barossa Valley, Napa’s runner-up in terms of wine-name recognition beyond Europe, are sometimes nonplussed by its topographical somnolence. Not so, geologically youthful Napa, whose landforms have a muscular energy. The valley is framed by two clear sides: the Mayacamas Mountains to the west and the Vaca Range to the east. A river runs down it: 89km from source to sea. It boasts a punctuating head, above Calistoga: Mount St Helena.

You might assume that the Napa Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) equates to the river’s watershed. In fact some vineyards outside the watershed to the east were included when the AVA was created in 1981. The great vineyards, however – such as To Kalon, Martha’s and Fay – all lie within tourist gaze.