Vineyards
V. Sattui now produces more than seventy percent of the grapes needed for our wine production, a high ratio for any winery. But we also contract with private growers who tend their vineyards, however small, with the care and concern we require to make our wines distinctive.
These are men and women who understand the importance of canopy management and pruning—that the essence of grape growing is to arrange all leaves so they intercept light. They know how to match a grape variety to the climate at the vineyard site; they have an innate sense of
terroir. They are adept at protecting their vines from weather hazards and pests. And they understand vineyards as systems of interconnected parts, and vineyards as parts of larger systems.
It is remarkable people such as these who continue to provide the backbone for the wines that make both V. Sattui and the Napa Valley so prominent and revered.
THE HENRY RANCH
It expands across 556 acres and we love every square inch of this Carneros appellation property. In fact, it incorporates two appellations. Not only is our Henry Ranch a place to grow premium quality grapes that produce spectacular wines, but it encompasses history and embraces the future while it remains pristinely green.
Dario Sattui, driven by his passion to fashion only the very best wines, his penchant for antiquity and his vision to go “green,” purchased this property in 1993. The beauty of this prime parcel of rolling grassy hills, old oak trees and slopes over 900 ft. with views of the Napa Valley to the north and San Francisco and San Jose to the south, had attracted speculators also. To keep this place intact, Dario had to buy out these developers’ options and place their escrows in his name. This “due diligent” eleventh-hour stretch paid all of us a handsome reward. And, here are a few reasons why…
It Has History Once home to Wappo Indians and then Spanish and Mexican settlers living on one of General Vallejo’s grants, the land was acquired by the Henry Family in 1850. It operated as a dairy ranch with an ingenious tram system of moving hay into the barn and taking milk out when Carneros Creek made road passage impossible during the winter months.
The barn, containing hand prints of generations of the Henry Family in the concrete floor as well as other outbuildings and fences built by the Mexicans in the 1800s have been carefully restored and maintained.
It's GreenA large array of wildlife and flora—from flocks of wild turkey and herds of deer, to bob cats and coyote—flourish in this tucked-away valley. Dario and our vineyard managers are very sensitive to this and they continue to respect and maintain these habitats, by promoting barn owl habitation as natural predators for gopher control, using cover crops and hand-weeding instead of pre-emergent herbicides as a way to increase soil fertility, using bird alarms to deter grape-eating flying creatures, and joining with other similarly committed growers to follow fish-friendly farming practices to protect our watershed.
Its Future Is SecuredDario wanted to make sure that 80% of this property remained untouched, so he signed a conservation agreement with the Napa Valley Land Trust in 2000. He gave up the right to develop or build on 111 acres and the remaining 414 acres will be given over in the near future. Thus the land will forever be saved from commercial and residential development and its agricultural value will be protected for generations to come.
But It's The GrapesThere is a massive maritime influence in terms of cool breezes and fog that emanates from San Pablo Bay; however, the hills and surrounding mountains are just high enough to protect the lowlands so that sufficient daytime heat builds for growth and ripening. After a decade of trial and error, several varietals such as
Gamay and Sangiovese had to be pulled out and replaced with those varietals best suited to these specific microclimates.
Riesling,
Chardonnay,
Pinot Noir and
Merlot are planted in the low-lying areas along the banks of Blue Creek and Carneros Creek. Here the cool, maritime air pools and remains longer during the morning hours. Also, the creek bank soils are more clay loam which adds to the cooler environs.
As these vines mature a little more each year, the wines just get more spectacular each vintage. The Riesling is delicate. The Pinot Noir is very Burgundian, a feature hard to duplicate in California. And the Merlot, which refutes the movie Sideways’ observation that California Merlots are flabby and uninteresting, proves that when a Merlot is grown in an environment that is climatically correct, it can rival any Cabernet Sauvignon. V. Sattui Henry Ranch Merlot does just that.
Cabernet Sauvignon is planted in the higher reaches of the ranch, predominately atop Mount Veeder where the cool air drains earlier in the morning and there is more sunlight and warmth with deeper, sandstone soils. (The ranch actually straddles two Napa appellations, Carneros and Mt. Veeder.) This Cabernet has really come into its own stride, with abundant fruit and a delightful streak of pepper in the finish.
Although it is surrounded by some of the finest quality vineyards in the world, Henry Ranch had never been planted to grapes. It is ironic that it was Dario Sattui who introduced the first grapevine to this ranch. With this and other vineyard holdings, V. Sattui is now able to supply itself with over 85% of its grape needs.
