St. Helena is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located within

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...

, centered in and around the town of

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on October 11, 1995, after the ATF received a petition from Mr. Charles A. Carpy, Chairman of the St. Helena Appellation Committee, proposing to establish a new viticultural area in Napa County to be known as "St. Helena."

Geography

The

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

covers along the flat narrow land towards the northern end of the valley between the Vaca and

Mayacamas Mountains The Mayacamas Mountains are located in northwestern California in the United States. The mountain range is part of the Northern Inner Coast Ranges, of the California Coast Ranges System. Geography The Mayacamas Mountains are located south of th ...

. Its soil is mostly

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

with good water retention and varying amounts of gravel.

Climate

The area has a

Warm-summer Mediterranean A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typica ...

climate, and is somewhat hotter than nearby wine growing regions with summer temperatures that often reach the mid 90s

Fahrenheit The Fahrenheit scale () is a scale of temperature, temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the German-Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accou ...

. It receives approximately 40 inches of rainfall per year.

History

In 1860, George Belden Crane planted

Mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

vines in St. Helena, and the vineyard produced its first wine in 1862. By 1874, the vineyard had produced 500,000 gallons of wine annually.

Charles Krug Charles Krug (1825–1892) was among the pioneers of winemaking in the Napa Valley, California, and was the founder of the Charles Krug Winery. Biography Charles Krug visited the United States from Prussia in 1847, and became a citizen in 1852. ...

, one of the pioneers of Napa Valley winemaking, founded his winery in 1861 in the St. Helena district. Krug also established the St. Helena Viticultural Club in 1876. On October 11, 1995, St. Helena AVA was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The AVA hosts more than 93 wineries with about cultivated.

Viticulture

The region is known for its red wines, including

Zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kašt ...

Petite Sirah Durif is a variety of red wine grape mainly grown in Australia, California, France, and Israel. Since the end of the 20th century, wineries located in Washington (state), Washington's Yakima River Valley, Maryland, Arizona, Texas, West Virgini ...

and

Pinot Noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

, although white wines are also produced there such as

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

. Its terroir is particularly well suited to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, particularly

Sauvignon Blanc Sauvignon blanc () is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the city of Bordeaux in France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an ind ...

. St. Helena's

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

is noted for its quality.

References

External links

*
TTB AVA Map
{{Authority control American Viticultural Areas of Napa Valley, California St. Helena, California 1995 establishments in California