Heed the roads less taken

To see the old-time Napa Valley, the way it was before the traffic and the bus-crammed parking lots and the crowded souvenir shops disguised as tasting rooms, get out of the valley proper and go east. Take one of those little roads-less-traveled that climb into the hills east of the Silverado Trail.

The Napa Valley American Viticultural Area is a constellation of several wine-producing areas and includes several valleys and the highlands that define them. The outlying valleys -- Pope Valley, Chiles Valley, Conn Valley, Wooden Valley and American Canyon -- have been contributing grapes to Napa Valley wines for more than a hundred years but haven’t fallen to the tourist hordes.

These outlying districts have more vineyards than wineries and almost no tasting rooms (try calling ahead to request a visit). Yet their grapes have helped make the Napa Valley America’s greatest wine region and their natural beauty rivals that of the valley itself, without the commercial overlay.

Pope Valley is a scenic half-hour drive east of St. Helena via Deer Park/Howell Mountain Road, past the town of Angwin. It has a colorful history of frontier living and quicksilver mining, and is higher in elevation than the Napa Valley and considerably warmer during the growing season. The summer landscape seems arid at first glance, but the scenery is striking: vineyards draped over tawny slopes like green quilts, majestic valley oaks studding hills crowned with scrub forest, and here and there a stand of gnarled cypress that thrives on the valley’s serpentine-laced soil.

St. Supery has become the most prominent Pope Valley grower in recent years (the winery is in central Napa Valley), with more than 600 acres planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. According to winemaker Michael Beaulac, by 2005 virtually all the St. Supery wines will come from its Pope Valley plantings.

Reach rugged, dramatic Chiles Valley by taking Highway 128 east past Lake Hennessey to the Chiles Pope Valley Road. A century ago it was an important grain and mining district, known as the main source of magnesite on the Pacific Coast. The Nichelini Winery, founded in 1896, did a brisk business supplying wine to the magnesite miners -- one of the earliest examples of successful niche marketing of wine. Nichelini’s dramatic hillside winery has a tasting room with a wonderful old-timey ambience.

Green & Red Winery has been producing bold, tannic, yet luscious Chiles Valley Zinfandels for nearly three decades from several vineyards carved into steep slopes. The winery’s name refers to the area’s geology: the greenish serpentine with veins of red volcanic soil makes for a propitious mix that naturally limits vine vigor, leading to the concentration of flavor that makes the wines so appealing. Founder Jay Hemingway was one of the earliest vintners to recognize the emerging talent of now-superstar winemaking consultant Heidi Peterson Barrett. The combination of unique terroir and Barrett’s influence has given Green & Red a place in the class of consistently outstanding Napa Valley AVA wineries.

Take Howell Mountain Road east from St. Helena to Conn Valley Road and you’ll be in Conn Valley, a region central to Napa’s hydrology as is dramatically demonstrated during the winter rains, when a plume of water spouting over Conn Dam douses the Silverado Trail like a loose fire hose. The area has been known to the valley’s large producers as a source of bold, blend-enhancing red wines since the 1870s.

Moderate climes

The Buehler Estate is an outstanding Conn Valley producer. An old stone winery on the property dates from 1893. But John Buehler makes his Cabernets and Zinfandels -- as rugged and charming as the landscape -- in a modern facility overlooking Lake Hennessey. The altitude 400 to 700 feet above Napa Valley and the lake has tempering effects on the climate. “On the hottest day of the year, we’re typically much cooler than St. Helena,” says John Buehler. “Conversely, on the coldest day of the year we’re a lot warmer.” The long, even ripening period brings out a full spectrum of fruit flavors framed by supple tannins in Buehler’s wines.

East of Napa off Trancas Street (Highway 121) is Wooden Valley, a kind of miniature Napa Valley with bucolic ranchland and surrounded by craggy escarpments. Wooden Valley is a longtime source of big, intense blending components for the Napa Valley reds of such producers as Caymus, Mondavi, and Pahlmeyer. Its only winery is Altamura, and Frank Altamura’s vibrant, powerful wines argue convincingly for Wooden Valley’s viticultural character as well as its historical ties to Napa Valley.

The sprawling ranch has been in Frank and Karen Altamura’s family since 1855. Their vines, about two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Sangiovese, were planted in the late 1960s. The grapes went to Robert Mondavi Winery for many years while Frank Altamura gained cellar experience working for such Napa Valley wineries as Sterling, Trefethen and Caymus until 1985; after that he turned full time to his own wines.

The Altamura estate produces around 3,000 cases of Cabernet and Sangiovese annually. They’re consistently some of my favorite Napa Valley wines, with the right combination of power, finesse and luscious flavor to make them delicious when young but also age-worthy. Altamura tames the stern mountain character of the fruit with gentle crushing and extended barrel aging. “It’s a misconception that wine has to be rough and tannic at first, then at some point it magically turns drinkable,” he says. “It’s got to have the fruit and balance from the beginning.”

Napa Valley wineries have been obtaining fruit from American Canyon since the 1970s. The region, between Highways 29 and 80 north of Vallejo, has little historical interest and has been known mainly for the rabbit-like proliferation of residential subdivisions. Yet it’s worth a visit, if only to look the future in the eye.

American Canyon’s importance in the Napa Valley scheme is sure to increase because it’s the only satellite region that’s distinctly cooler than the valley proper -- and thus, the only one with a strong white wine identity. It might be seen as Carneros East.

Mike Grgich has made a significant commitment to American Canyon terroir in 1998 with the purchase of a 205-acre parcel. His Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot vines were precision-planted, with site-specific rootstocks and clones cultivated for modest yields. The results thus far are impressive, as demonstrated in the 2001 Grgich Hills Sauvignon Blanc.

Unique growing conditions

Grgich credits the devigorating effects of wind on the vines. “There’s always wind blowing through that canyon,” he says. “That wind keeps the vegetation a little slow, so the clusters are smaller and the berries are smaller, even than in Carneros. The soil and weather make sure we never have more than 3 tons per acre.”

Such conditions are found in few other places (only the coastal valleys of Chile and New Zealand) and the style of luscious yet bracing white wine they produce is correspondingly rare. Grgich, whose 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay announced California to the world in the 1976 Paris Tasting, is at 80 pioneering a distinctive new style of Napa Valley Chardonnay with his new wine from American Canyon.

American Canyon isn’t as pretty as the more remote valleys, but it’s just as important. And you’ll return from a visit with a perspective that few tourists share: You know that there’s more to the Napa Valley AVA than just the Napa Valley. You’ll have seen the roots and some of the hidden facets of its complex personality. And when the lady behind the tasting room counter says that a lot of the grapes in the wine you’re tasting came from, say, Pope Valley, you’ll be able to say, “Oh yeah, Pope Valley. I’ve been there.”

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Off the beaten path

If you want to taste some bottled poetry from a few of the Napa Valley’s satellite wine areas, look for these wines.

Altamura Sangiovese 1999. Wooden Valley’s elevation, afternoon breezes and volcanic soils produce beautiful Sangiovese, with the distinctive sour cherry and licorice notes of classic Brunello in a sumptuous California style.

Buehler Cabernet Sauvignon 1999. The mature vines on steep terraces overlooking Lake Hennessey produce heroically structured Cabernet with pure black-fruit flavors and a distinctive minerally undertone.

Green & Red Zinfandel “Chiles Mill Vineyard” 2001. Classic Zin: the juicy, spicy essence of vines growing in volcanic soil high above Chiles Valley. The vineyard overlooks the historical site of a grist mill built by pioneer Joseph Chiles in the 1850s.

Grgich Hills Fume Blanc 2001. This lovely Sauvignon Blanc is the first bottling from Mike Grgich’s American Canyon estate. Its ripe green-fruit flavors and tingling acidity show the area’s distinctively cool climate.

Nichelini Winery Zinfandel 2000 “Old Vines.” From vines planted just at the end of Prohibition, a pure taste of Chiles Valley: a little tough when first opened but, with air, becomes plummy and delicious.

St. Supery Cabernet Sauvignon “Dollarhide Ranch” 1999. St. Supery’s vine-clad slopes in Pope Valley consistently yield ripe, rich Cabernet with pure fruit flavors and soft tannins.

St. Supery Meritage 1998. In a vintage when many Napa Valley Cabernet producers had trouble achieving full ripeness in Cabernet , the ’98 St. Supery Meritage is notable for luscious ripeness, thanks to the Pope Valley’s warmer climate and shorter growing season.

The following wineries do not all accommodate visitors but some sell their wines on their Web sites, have mailing lists for events or schedule by-appointment tours; one has a tasting room.

Altamura Winery. 1700 Wooden Valley Road, Napa (707)253-2000. Tastings by appointment only.

Buehler Vineyards. 820 Greenfield Road, St. Helena (707) 963-2155; www.buehlervineyards.com. Tours by appointment only.

Green & Red Vineyard. 3208 Chiles Pope Valley Road, St. Helena (707) 965-2346; www.greenandred.com. Not open to the public.

Nichelini Winery. 2950 Sage Canyon Road, St. Helena (707) 963-0717; www.nicheliniwinery.com. Tasting room hours, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Weekdays by appointment.