Paul Franson

For years, I’ve been intrigued by the back roads of Napa County that don’t connect. Look at a map, and you can see that many dead-end roads are connected, but only with roads closed to traffic, though many are paved though most are more suitable for trucks and four-wheel drive.

One such pair is Atlas Peak Road and Soda Canyon Rod. Both are long dead ends into the mountains, but they lie tantalizingly close and I’ve heard rumors there was a road connecting them through Circle S Ranch, which was bought two years ago by Bill Hill’s Premier Pacific properties.

I’d also been curious about Dr. Jan Krupp’s Stagecoach Vineyard in the Atlas Peak area area.

So it was obvious why I jumped at the chance to take a tour of the Atlas Peak area that included a drive over that road. The relatively new Atlas Peak Appellation arranged a tour for writers to visit vineyards in the area and find out more about the area and its wines.

The tour started at William Hill Winery near Silverado Resort, ironically no longer owned by Hill and recently bought by Gallo. There we boarded SUVs and trucks, which turned out to be a necessity.

I grabbed a seat in an SUV driven by Janet Llamos, who once lived on the Stagecoach property and now works there. Her father still manages it.

Circling around on Silverado Trail and then Soda Canyon Road, we eventually reached the end of that road in the large bowl called Foss Valley. A surprisingly large and relatively flat area to be up in the mountains, it lies under 2663-ft. Atlas Peak itself. That mountain is just one of a number of peaks, and had to be identified as it doesn’t stand out.

There are three large valleys in the Atlas Peak AVA: big Foss Valley, Milliken Canyon toward Atlas Peak Road, and Rector Canyon toward Oakville and the reservoir of that name.

The thin soil is typically volcanic and deep and the vines must be irrigated. Lying at 2000 feet, the Foss Valley area is cooler than the Napa Valley floor and the wines tend to be a bit tannic (“structured”). Surprisingly, Chardonnay does well, though Cabernet is the prime grape from the area.

Venturing on a new private road, we passed Krupp’s own 40-acre Krupp Vineyards, which makes wine under the Krupp Brothers Estate at Laird, then took the long drive into Stagecoach Vineyard itself.

The road passes through a number of parcels and required 154 legal documents to get approval, a process that took a year – then it was built in 30 days.

Stagecoach Vineyard is owned by a partnership and Krupp is managing partner, and it’s huge: 1200 acres, about 550 planted. Only about 130 acres are actually in the Atlas Peak American Viticultural Are, with the rest stretching toward Pritchard Hill and to the west. Its planting started in 1994, and last year, produced 15,000 tons of grapes.

Stagecoach sells grapes to a long list of about 40 wineries, many just calling them “Napa Valley” fruit, and the appellation was formed partly to raise the profile (and value) of the grapes.

Leaving Stagecoach, we could see other vineyards in Foss Valley and many new vines were evident.

The other large vineyard property in Foss Valley is the 500 planted acres of the 600-acre Atlas Peak Vineyards property. It lies at 1600 to 2000 feet.

Though presently managed by Beam Wine Estates, which bought it from Allied Domecq, it is owned by the Antinori family of Tuscany (which also recently bought Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars with Ste. Michelle of Washington). The Antinoris take possession of the vineyard and its winery in November 2008, but the brand remains part of Beam, at least for now. Only one Atlas Peak wine, a claret, uses the Atlas Peak appellation, with the others coming from Napa Valley or other mountain appellations (“Atlas Peak Howell Mountain Cabertnet,” etc.).

It appears the brand can use the Atlas Peak name even with other fruit since it was planted before 1990, though that practice is considered rather deceptive today. At any rate, there’s obviously a lot of Atlas Peak fruit available – including that from the Atlas Peak property itself.

The Antinoris, one of the world’s most respected wine families, also bought 100 acres next to Atlas Peak Vineyards and planted Cabernet. They will release their Antica wines from that property this fall.

Atlas Peak Vineyards has a 27-acre reservoir, and it uses the water primarily for frost protection, which can be needed until June in the chilly area. Bud break fortunately comes two or three weeks behind that in the Napa Valley proper, but as the property is above the fog line, the grapes catch up to some degree, though the grapes are harvested rather late during October or even into mid November.

Because of the Antinori’s experience with Sangiovese in Tuscany, the vineyard originally was planted with quite a bit of that grape starting in 1989, but it proved challenging to grow – and little market has developed for California Sangiovese. After all, the Antinoris make some rather good wine from Sangiovese in Tuscany…

From Atlas Peak Vineyards, we took my dream route though Milliken Canyon toward Soda Canyon Road. It turns out that it is hardly a road. It’s a path though an unlocked gate and over the old cattle pasture, suitable for fire crews and ranchers, but not much else. So much for my fantasy of a hidden highway.

Bill Hill bought the old Circle S cattle ranch two years ago. Its 1600 acres of pastures and rugged territory include 800 suitable for grapes vines, notes Mitchell Klug, one of Napa’s most respected viticulturists, but he says there’s no intent to plant that much.

Only 25 acres have been planted so far. Klug says that much of the property that lies under 5 degrees slope, and hence has potential for planting without permits, turns out to be designated wetlands, and we drove past large areas teaming with happy birds and presumably other wildlife.

The company is evaluating the other potential vineyards and applying for permits as they’re ready.

Klug says the vineyard property lies at about 1700 feet, and is quite a bit warmer than the Napa Valley floor.

The other properties in the appellation are mostly small, including Patrick and Linda Elliott-Smith’s beautiful Élan Vineyards at the end of Atlas Peak Road and overlooking Capell Valley, where Craig and Kathryn Hall have vineyards.

Patrick says his property is at 2000 feet and is 10 degrees cooler than on the valley floor. At this altitude, the grapes can hang for a long time without overripening, and their wines are elegant and complex. He has built a small winery basically under their elegant rammed-dirt home.

Nearby is Susan Curtis’ Jocelyn Lonen, who started making wine with her husband in Saratoga, then he unfortunately died as they were realizing their dream of a vineyard and winery on Atlas Peak.

She is continuing with her daughter Brandy managing the effort, and has plans for a boutique winery on the property. She has one of few tasting rooms – and physical wineries, for that matter – in the appellation.

We also tasted other wines from the area at Bialla, which has an aging cave as do Michael and Kiki Parmenter, who have a cave used to age their Vin Roc.

Other wines we tasted include Hill Family (not to be confused with William Hill or Bill Hill), Rivera, which is sold only at auction for charity, Cobblestone and Dominari. All make big, powerful wines that are likely to gain increasing attention for the appellation.

The wineries that are members of the appellation association include Ardente Espressione, Astrale e Terra, Atlas Peak, Bialla Vineyards, Cobblestone Vineyards, Dominari, Elan Vineyards, Hill Family Estate, Jocelyn Lonen Winery, Krupp Brothers Estates, Rivera Vineyards and Vin Roc.

Only four vineyards now belong to the group: Bella Quercia Vineyard, Bianchini Family Vineyards, Soda Canyon Ranch Vineyards and Stagecoach Vineyard.

The Atlas Peak appellation suffers from having a lot of vineyard acreage but few physical wineries and one big brand in limbo, though that will likely change when the Antinoris take over.

It would be unfortunate if the Atlas Peak Vineyards name is misleadingly used primarily for wine made from other grapes when those from the appellation are so appealing in their own right.

You can get more information about the Atlas Peak appellation and its wines and wineries at www.atlaspeakappellation.com.

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