In this interview, Steve Matthiasson discusses the different wine varieties that were historically grown in Napa, as well as the varieties he is experimenting with today. An acclaimed viticulturalist and winemaker, Steve has worked in many different regions of Napa and Amanda Barnes asks him about the geology, climate, viticulture and regions of Napa Valley. See the full interview on
Transcript:
And tell me about varieties, because you are probably one of the Napa vintners who is most experimental with varieties. What have we got beyond the classic Cabernet that works well here?
Well Napa Valley used to have many, many different varieties. In the To Kalon vineyard I think there were over 100 different varieties that they were testing, and a ton of them make great wine. All the way up until and through the 60s, Napa had many different varieties. And many white wines, we were actually more whites than we were reds here. And some of the more widely planted varieties here were Chasselas, if you are familiar with Chasselas, it is a Swiss variety. There was a lot of Riesling in Napa, a lot of Chenin Blanc, all kinds of different varieties. And so in the early 60s, French wine became very popular, Julia Child became very popular with the Art of French Cooking. And people planted Cabernet. Cabernet is another variety that does great here, and it has become, it has spread, and is really the trademark of Napa but just because Cabernet does really well here, doesn’t mean that other varieties don’t do really well here. And my background in viticulture, I just really love growing and seeing how different vines grow. I do alot of Cabernet, I love Cabernet but for our own vineyards I like trying different things as well. And so we have refosco here, this is refosco. Schiopatino, the Italian varietals were always considered to be really suited to California particularly because we have the warmer, sunnier climate. And alot of Italian varietals hold their acidity and can kind of handle that heat a little bit better. And so I like playing with Italian varietals, but also Cabernet Franc. You know, erring more in the feminine aromatic and exploring different whites – ribolla gialla, greco tuffo. And so it is just kind of an endless quest, to see what’s the next interesting variety and see how it does here.