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A Brief History of the Oakville Wine Region in Napa Valley
from: Maxx Guide to WineThe Oakville region of Napa Valley is recognized for the quality wine of its wine. Located in the heart of the wine industry in Napa Valley, there are 5,000 acres of vineyards stretching throughout this region making it one of the most popular tourists attractions in the region.
In particular, the areas is well known for quality production of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Widely regarded wineries in the area include Dalla Valle, Rudd Winery, Opus One, Silver Oak Winery and Screaming Eagle.
One reason the region has been so successful producing highly praised wines is likely due to the warm climate plus its location north of the Yountville Mounts. Thus, most of the wind and fog from San Pablo Bay is blocked, which provides a lot of protection to the area. This provides the region's grapes enough time to ripen and develop the unique characteristics the wines from this region have become known.
Certainly the different terrains in the area have also contributed to its success alowing a variety of different types of grapes to thrive. These varieties include Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. On the valley floor, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are common.
Wine production in Oakville has a long and distinguished history. Vineyards were first planted by Hamilton Walker Crabb after he purchased 240 acres of land in 1868. The Kalon Vineyard was quickly established and forty years later, there are more than 400 acres of vineyards in the region.
During the 1880s when there was an outbreak of phylloxera, Crabb was very proactive and was one of the few winemakers in the region to convert his vineyards to rootstocks which was resistant to phylloxera. Most of the remainder of the industry in the area was subsequently destroyed by this rather aggressive pest.
Those who remained were then hit hard by Prohibition. Most of the vineyards in the area were neglected or completely destroyed because of the major reduction in demand. However, a few vineyards that remained were planted with specific varieties that could handle being shipped to the East Coast for home winemaking. During this time large areas of land previously planted with some of the most noble varieties of grapes in the region were totally uprooted and replaced with prune orchards which was the main agricultural crop in Napa Valley for several decades.
Once Prohibition was repealed, it took several years for the Oakville wine region to recover. This changed in time and in the 1950s most of the old Crabb estate was purchased by Cesare Mondavi including the old Kalon Vineyard. Mondavi eventually began to produce some wine from the quality grapes growing at the To Kalon.
By the 1960s, Heitz Cellars started producing Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that would go on to become critically acclaimed. At the same time, the wine renaissance of Napa Valley was picking up steam. Robert Mondavi separated from the family winery at Charles Krug and went into production in Oakville, further solidifying Oakville's place as a premier wine region.
Mondavi has a reputation for contributing more to the development of the Napa Valley wine industry as a whole than anyone else. After splitting with his family, he established a completely innovative winery in Oakville. His winery was built literally from the ground up and included the establishment of a tasting room to welcome visitors as well as tours of the winemaking process.
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